It is very important to point out the biological function of tumor-related genes, for it can reveal the cause and development of tumor. Recently, the Research Group of Molecular Toxicology has achieved new progress on EAF gene family and the biological function of ELL.  

Doctoral student Jingxia LIU from this research group has found evidence suggesting that oncogenes and tumor suppressors may play a role in normal vertebrate embryogenesis. Thus, the evaluation of how these proteins function during embryogenesis would not only lead to a better understanding of development，but may also shed light on how these proteins contribute to tumor initiation and progression. Their studies revealed that Eaf1 and Eaf2/U19 play important roles during zebrafish early embryogenesis, morpholino-mediated knockdown of eaf1 and eaf2/u19 expression in embryos resulted in severemorphological defects, and eaf1 and eaf2/u19regulate convergence and extension movements and midline convergence of the heart and pancreas primordial by maintaining expression levels of wnt11 and wnt5. The research result was available on Journal of Biological Chemistry’s website (online issue of April 20^th).  

Doctoral student Jiangang ZHOU from the same research group reveals that ELL can directly serve as a transcriptional factor to regulate transcription of TSP-1 on several levels and ELL could inhibit zebrafish vasculogenesis, which appeared to be consistent with its function in up-regulating TSP-1. The research result was also available on Journal of Biological Chemistry’s website (online issue of May 15^th).