神經發育學實驗室 Laboratory of Neural Development

Min-Lang, Haung(黃敏郎)

研究領域 Research Interests

>神經發育學 ( Neural development) 、遺傳學 ( Genetics)

Nervous systems compose a vast array of neurons those differ in morphologies and functions. The mechanisms for controlling the neural development are not fully understood. The Drosophila nervous system is well characterized in the cellular number and morphology. My future work is to use this system to carry out two genetic screenings to identify novel genes regulating the neuronal genesis and morphogenesis.

神經系統乃由眾多不同型態及不同功能的細胞所組成，而形成這些細胞的分子機制卻尚未明瞭。果蠅是一個歷史悠久的模式生物，具有完備的遺傳資料，其神經系統的細胞數目及形態已被研究得很清楚。本實驗室將利用果蠅進行遺傳篩選，尋找影響神經細胞發生及形態形成的分子機制。

!> * 訊息傳遞鏈網路 (Network of signal pathways)

Story of freaky eye (fee)

We identified a new Lobe hypomorphic allele, Lfee(Lfreaky eye). Our study revealed that reduction of the Drosophila PRAS40 Lresults in hypoactivation of TORC1 signaling. This leads to apoptosis and ectopic Jak/STAT activation, both of contribute to disruption of eye development. Our data indicate that TORC1 signaling is able to regulate the expression and functions of the Jak/STAT signal pathway during eye development. Further studies using L mutants may uncover the mechanisms by which L regulates TORC1 signaling, and how TOR controls the Jak/STAT signal pathways. Also noteworthy is the report that decreasing PRAS40 can increase apoptosis of tumor cells, and it is therefore of interest to investigate whether PRAS40 and TORC1 can regulate the Jak/STAT signal pathway in tumors.

我們實驗室找到一個新的Lobe基因的弱顯性(hypomorphic)突變果蠅株-Lfreaky eye，由於該果蠅株的眼睛常伴隨著不同程度的缺陷，故命名為freaky eye，意指多變的眼睛。Lobe基因是人類PRAS40的同源蛋白，目前並不知道當PRAS40表現量下降時，對人體會造成什麼樣的影響。我們實驗室證實：當Lobe基因表現量減少時，會導致TORC1訊息路徑的活性下降、部分細胞凋亡、及Jak-STAT訊息路徑的活性異常表達。過去已知許多腫瘤的形成與TORC1及Jak-STAT訊息路徑的活性調控異常有關，細胞凋亡亦是在腫瘤形成過程中常見的現象，故我們可以利用Lfreaky eye作為研究工具，藉此瞭解TORC1及Jak-STAT訊息路徑的網路，及其在腫瘤發生中所扮演的角色。