Grant: Project Grant

The growth and development of all multi-celled organisms-including humans-requires that cells within the body adopt specialized functions. Cell specialization involves the presence of different proteins in different cell types (e.g. muscle proteins in muscle cells, liver proteins in liver cells, etc.). Cells produce individual proteins using specific signals known as mRNAs in a process called translation. We are studying one strategy that is employed to control which proteins are present in any particular cell. In this strategy, the production of a protein can be blocked by destroying the corresponding mRNA via mRNA degradation. The decision to degrade an mRNA is controlled by proteins-called RNA-binding proteins (RBPs)-that bind mRNAs. The work in this proposal is aimed at understanding how RBP function is controlled. These types of mechanisms function throughout the life span of all multi-celled organisms and play particularly prominent roles during the earliest stages of development. We are using a simple organism-the fruit fly-to study how RBPs are controlled during the earliest stages of the organism's life. Since there are many similarities between how flies and humans grow and develop, our work is applicable to humans.