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| Author(s): |
Debora Rodrigues Sobreira
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia |
| Defense date: | 2013-11-07 |
| Examining board members: |
Lucia Elvira Alvares;
Luis Antonio Violin Dias Pereira;
Erika Cristina Jorge;
Allyson Coelho Sampaio
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| Advisor: | José Xavier Neto; Lucia Elvira Alvares |
| Abstract | |
The Dapper (Dpr) genes form a small gene family of adaptor proteins important to several processes of vertebrates development, such as the specification of the body axis and neural tissue, morphogenetic movements, eye development, induction of cardiogenesis, adipogenesis and wound healing, by modulating the Wnt and TGF-? signaling pathways using specific conserved domains/motifs. Three Dpr genes have been identified in human and mouse, two in chicken, one in frog and two in zebrafish genome. Since the discovery of Dpr proteins, several assays have been performed in order to understand the role of this family during embryogenesis, although many questions still need to be elucidated. Thus, this PhD project aimed to (1) describe the possible role of Dpr genes during ontogeny of chicken regarding the regulation of Wnt and TGF-? signaling pathways and (2) investigate the origin and evolution of Dpr family over the course of metazoan evolution. Our results demonstrated that Dpr genes are involved in chicken limb development, probably, by modulating Wnt and TGF-? signals. Dpr genes were found in the undifferentiated limb mesenchyme, progenitor of chondrocytes, perichondrium and tendons. These results suggest that Dpr genes are good candidates to a new set of markers in chicken limb development. Furthermore, our phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Dprs arose late during the deuterostomes evolution and allowed the identification of a new Dpr paralog (Dpr4), meaning that a repertoire of four Dact genes is found in vertebrates. Thus, our work will provide the basis for molecular studies in order to establish the role of each individual member of this family as well as how the set of Dpr proteins can interact and cooperate to modulate different molecular signaling pathways in different cellular contexts (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 09/01683-9 - Functional characterization of the A and B isoforms of the Dapper1 gene generated by alternative splicing |
| Grantee: | Débora Rodrigues Sobreira |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |