Hombría James Castelli- Gair, Brown Stephen
Department of Zoology, Downing Street, University of Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, Cambridge, UK.
Curr Biol. 2002 Aug 20;12(16):R569-75. doi: 10.1016/s0960-9822(02)01057-6.
The JAK/STAT pathway plays important roles in vertebrate and invertebrate development. The recent cloning and characterisation of the receptor in Drosophila shows that the pathway is conserved across phyla. In this review we describe current knowledge of the pathway and use genome data to discuss what elements are present in Drosophila. We also summarise recent work describing the involvement of the JAK/STAT pathway in oogenesis and spermatogenesis. Interestingly, the JAK/STAT pathway maintains the niche required for germline stem cell maintenance in the testis, providing the first molecular characterisation of a stem cell niche. Drosophila's streamlined pathway offers a simple model to find new elements and analyse the function of existing ones.
JAK/STAT信号通路在脊椎动物和无脊椎动物的发育过程中发挥着重要作用。最近在果蝇中对该受体的克隆和特性描述表明，该信号通路在不同门类中具有保守性。在这篇综述中，我们阐述了对该信号通路的现有认识，并利用基因组数据来探讨果蝇中存在哪些元件。我们还总结了最近关于JAK/STAT信号通路参与卵子发生和精子发生的研究工作。有趣的是，JAK/STAT信号通路维持着睾丸中生殖系干细胞维持所需的微环境，这为干细胞微环境提供了首个分子特征描述。果蝇简化的信号通路提供了一个简单的模型，用于发现新元件并分析现有元件的功能。
