Project Details
Description
We are interested in studying the mechanisms which program the selective
changes in gene expression during early embryonic development.
Understanding the molecular events responsible for the heterogeneous
cell-types arising from a single cell, the egg, is a fundamental unanswered
question. Our approach to this problem is concerned with investigating
during embryogenesis and in differentiated adult tissues the transcripts of
a specific set of genes, those encoding the histone proteins. The histone
proteins of sea urchins are encoded by several distinct sets of separately
maintained multi-gene families that are expressed in a stage specific
manner during embryogenesis and in differentiated adult tissues. Examples
of these are the cleavage stage (CS) histones made only during oogenesis
and the first three cleavages; the early histones made up until the
blastula stage; the late histone subtypes which reach a maximum
accumulation only at the gastrula; and adult tissue specific histones such
as the sperm specific subtypes.
The immediate objectives of the experiments outlined in this proposal are:
1) to clone and characterize the histone families not yet characterized (CS
genes, most of the late genes, and the adult tissue specific genes); 2) to
measure the absolute rates of transcription and decay of the late histone
transcripts; 3) characterize the factors from sea urchin chromatin which
exert biological effects on these genes. These studies pertain directly to
understanding the evolution of multi-gene families and the role of
differential gene expression in differentiation and embryogenesis. Our
future goals include the utilization of transformation procedures to
reintroduce altered forms of these genes back into the animal in the hopes
of learning more about gene expression in embryos and what the role of the
drastic alterations in chromatin structure during development might be.
Status | Finished |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 12/31/89 → 6/30/00 |
ASJC
- Genetics
- Molecular Biology
- Medicine(all)
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
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