C. elegansの周辺感覚器官の発達を制御する転写因子

C Zhao¹, S W Emmons

¹Department of Molecular Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461.

Nature

|January 5, 1995

まとめ

C. elegans の lin-32 遺伝子は,神経芽細胞の細胞運命を制御する. この基本的なヘリックス・ループ・ヘリックス (bHLH) タンパク質は

科学分野:

発達生物学発達生物学について
遺伝学遺伝学とは
神経科学は神経科学である.

背景:

基本ヘリックス・ループ・ヘリックス (bHLH) タンパク質は,細胞型決定に不可欠な転写因子である.
これらの要因は,細胞タイプに特異な遺伝子を調節し,異なる細胞タイプを確立します.
bHLHのタンパク質発現は空間的なシグナルによって導かれ,再現可能な細胞型移行を保証します.

研究の目的:

リン-32遺伝子のカエノラブディティス・エレガンスにおける役割を調査する.
ニューロブラスト細胞の運命を決定する際にリン-32が関与しているかどうかを判断する.
メタゾア細胞型決定におけるbHLH転写因子の進化的保存を調査する.

主な方法:

カエノラブディティス・エレガンス (Caenorhabditis elegans) のリン-32遺伝子解析
ニューロブラストの運命を特定するためにlin-32の必要性と十分性を評価するための機能的研究.
Drosophila achaete-scuteファミリーの転写因子とlin-32タンパク質の構造と機能の比較分析.

主要な成果:

リン-32遺伝子は,C. elegans. のニューロブラスト細胞命運の特異化に不可欠である.
特定の細胞では,lin-32はニューロブラスト細胞の運命を誘導するのに十分である.
LIN-32タンパク質は,Drosophila achaete-scuteファミリーの転写因子と機能的,構造的に類似しています.

結論:

lin-32遺伝子は,C. elegans. のニューロン細胞運命を決定する上で重要な役割を果たしています.
この発見は,bHLH転写因子が,祖先の形態のニューロン細胞の運命を指定する上で保存された役割を果たしていたことを示唆している.
これは,細胞型決定の基本的メカニズムが,メタゾウ類の進化を通じて保存されているという仮説を支持する.

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