Protein Keeps Adjacent Tissues Growing in Synchrony 英文参考文献.docVIP

Synopsis ProteinKeepsAdjacentTissuesGrowinginSynchrony RichardRobinson* FreelanceScienceWriter,Sherborn,Massachusetts,UnitedStatesofAmerica Why are hearts heart-shaped, and kidneysshapedlikekidneys?Moregener- ally, what keeps multicellular creatures, and their individual parts, correctly pro- portioned even as they increase a thou- sand-fold or more in size? Despite the ubiquity of the phenomenon and the intriguingnatureofthequestion,relatively littleisknownaboutthemolecularmech- anisms that regulate proportional growth. In this issue of PLoS Biology, Duarte Mesquita, Andres Dekanty, and Marco Mila′n offer one clue—identifying a pro- teinthatslowsgrowthinonepartofafly wing when growth in another part is reduced. Within the fly larva, cell clusters called imaginaldiscsdevelopasthelarvagrows. These clusters play no role in the larval stageoflife;instead,theyaretheprimor- diaofadultstructures,includingthewings. During metamorphosis, they reorganize, fuse,andgrowtocreatetheadultfly. To examine the effect of growth retar- dationinonegroupofcellsonthegrowth rate in another, the authors added the gene for several protein synthesis inhibi- tors, including the poison ricin, to one section (anterior or posterior) of the wing imaginal disc, leaving the other section untouched. The ricin gene’s expression couldbeturnedoffwithcoldtemperatures and on with warm ones, and the larvae were initially grown in a cool room to allownormalwingdiscdevelopment,then switchedtoawarmone,stuntinggrowth. Theyfoundthatreducinggrowthinone section caused a similar reduction in the othersection.Whengrowthinthetreated sectionwasreducedmore,byexposingthe larvae to warm temperatures for longer, growth in the untreated section fell in lockstep. The result in all cases was a smaller, but still well-proportioned wing. Therewasnoimpactonotherorgans,or ontheoverallsizeofthefly. Recent work in the fruit-fly underscores a molecular mechanism by which adjacent tissuesrespondinacoordinatedmannertolocalva