美國紐約大學(xué)比較功能基因組學(xué)中心的生物學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn),，名為mel-28的基因具有雙重作用,，它既在細(xì)胞分裂時(shí)起確保染色體正常分裂的作用,，又參與了核被膜（nuclearenvelope）功能,。利用系統(tǒng)匯集實(shí)驗(yàn)證據(jù)手段,，生物學(xué)家能夠找到不同基因間的關(guān)聯(lián),。闡述基因關(guān)聯(lián)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)圖顯示,，大多數(shù)基因處在高度關(guān)聯(lián)的,、被稱為模塊的組群中，這些模塊含有眾多的基因,，它們參與了相同的作用,。
紐約大學(xué)研究人員法比歐•皮亞諾和安尼塔•弗南德澤的發(fā)現(xiàn)出自對(duì)秀麗隱桿線蟲(C.elegans)的研究。該線蟲是人類首次完成基因組排序的動(dòng)物,，同時(shí)也是幫助人們研究胚胎如何發(fā)育的模式生物,。皮亞諾和弗南德澤發(fā)現(xiàn)，mel-28基因同網(wǎng)絡(luò)圖的大多數(shù)基因不同,，它與兩個(gè)獨(dú)特的模塊相關(guān)聯(lián),。
通過線蟲在胚胎早期時(shí)將mel-28基因與帶有熒光標(biāo)記GFP的基因熔融，皮亞諾和弗南德澤觀察到了細(xì)胞在活胚胎中分裂時(shí)熔融物MEL-28-GFP的動(dòng)向：在細(xì)胞核外圍和染色體之間穿梭,。進(jìn)一步的功能測試實(shí)驗(yàn)顯示,，mel-28對(duì)核被膜的完整性和染色體分裂的正確性均具有重要的作用。
英文原文：
NYU biologists identify gene that coordinates two cellular processes
A team of biologists at New York University's Center for Comparative Functional Genomics has uncovered a dual role for the gene mel-28. The gene plays a part in ensuring that chromosomes are divided properly during cell division and it is required for nuclear envelope function. The findings appear in the journal Current Biology.
The team is using functional genomic tools to study the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), the first animal species whose genome was completely sequenced and a model organism to study how embryos develop. The study appearing in Current Biology was performed by NYU's Fabio Piano, an assistant professor, and Anita Fernandez, a post-doctoral researcher, at the Center for Comparative Functional Genomics.
Biologists can draw connections between genes based on systematically accumulated experimental evidence. Network diagrams that illustrate such connections show that most genes fall into highly interconnected groups called modules. These modules are often enriched for genes that share the same role. In order to determine the functions of genes whose role is unknown, researchers examine genes in the same module whose function has already been discovered. This approach has proven useful for learning about the roles of unknown genes.
Unlike most genes in the network, mel-28 had connections to two distinct modules. Piano and Fernandez tested the idea that mel-28 plays important roles in both chromosome segregation and nuclear envelope function. Part of this undertaking included examining the protein MEL-28, which the gene mel-28 encodes.
By fusing mel-28 to a gene-encoding GFP, a fluorescent marker, and expressing this fusion in early embryos, they visualized the movement of MEL-28 during cell division in living embryos. Consistent with the idea that MEL-28 had function in chromosome segregation and the nuclear envelope, the MEL-28-GFP fusion was observed to shuttle between the nuclear periphery and the chromosomes during cell division. Additional functional tests showed that mel-28 was essential to both the integrity of the nuclear envelope and to proper chromosome segregation. This study served as a validation of network modeling as a means to identify genes that coordinate multiple functions.
