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Content archived on 2024-05-29

Roles of a new family of Drosophila proteins structurally related to vertebrate insulin-like growth factors

Objective

Growth regulation is of fundamental importance to the development and homeostasis of all multicellular organisms and involves a balance between cell size, proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation. This process is sensitive to environmental cues such as nutrition and relies on communication between different tissues, mediated by circulating hormones and growth factors. Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) promote growth in a number of tissues and their overexpression can contribute to tumorigenesis. Howeve r, the functions of circulating IGFs in growth and disease are not well understood. Growth regulation by the insulin/IGF pathway is conserved between insects and mammals. Recently, a family of eight IGF-like genes was identified in Drosophila using a conta ct-based sequence alignment algorithm involving structural information. Preliminary experiments in the host lab have confirmed that at least one of these genes is expressed in an endocrine organ known to regulate growth and lipid metabolism. We propose to characterize the role of the new IGF-like genes in regulating organ and organismal size, with a focus on proliferation/differentiation of neuronal progenitors. Because of evolutionary conservation of these proteins, our study is likely to be relevant to th e growth of mammalian embryos and may provide insights into the aetiology of IGF-dependent cancers.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

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Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

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FP6-2004-MOBILITY-5
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Funding Scheme

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SCF - Marie Curie actions-Series of events

Coordinator

THE MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
EU contribution
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Total cost

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