果蝇心脏发育研究三十年进展

Thirty Years’ Progress in the Study of Drosophila Heart Development

摘要

果蝇(Drosophila melanogaster)作为最早用于研究心脏发育基因调控的模式生物, 已经走过三十年的历程。果蝇心脏发育过程经历了胚胎期、幼虫期和成虫期三大阶段。在胚胎早期, Tinman、Dorsocross和Pannier等基因是关键的调控因子。Tinman参与最早的心脏前体细胞分化和心脏细胞形成, 而Dorsocross和Pannier则影响心脏前体细胞的定向分化和心脏管腔的形成。进入胚胎晚期和幼虫期, 果蝇的心管经历进一步的发展和重塑, 该过程主要受到转录因子Hand、Mef2以及Hox基因家族的调控。在成虫期, Hox基因家族和Tinman依旧发挥重要作用。虽然果蝇心脏与脊椎动物成熟心脏存在形态上的差异, 但两者心脏的早期发育过程以及调控基因和信号通路都有保守性。本文综述了果蝇心脏发育基因调控研究的三十年进展以及利用果蝇模型研究人类心脏相关疾病的潜在希望。

Abstract

Over the past three decades, Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as a leading model organism to investigate the regulatory mechanism of heart development. The development process of Drosophila heart goes through three major stages: embryonic stage, larval stage, and adult stage. In the early embryonic stage, genes such as Tinman, Dorsocross and Pannier are key regulators. Tinman participates in the earliest differen-tiation of cardiac precursor cells and the formation of cardiac cells, while Dorsocross and Pannier affect the directional differentiation of cardiac precursor cells and the formation of cardiac lumens. During the late em-bryonic and larval stages, the Drosophila heart tube undergoes further development and remodeling, which is mainly regulated by multiple transcription factors such as Hand, Mef2, and the Hox gene family. The Hox gene family and Tinman continue to wield significant influence in the adult stage. Despite morphological disparities between the fruit fly heart and vertebrate hearts, the early developmental process, regulatory genes and signaling pathways remain conserved in both. This review encapsulates three decades of research advances in gene regulation of heart development in D. melanogaster, and also describes the prospects of using Drosophila model to study heart-related diseases in humans.

关键词

果蝇 / 心脏发育 / 基因调控 / Tinman / Hox基因家族

Key words

Drosophila / heart development / gene regulation / Tinman / Hox gene family