Danio rerio guts to cystic fibrosis
So cystic fibrosis doesn't really come to mind when looking at cute zebrafish zipping around a tank trying to avoid the net of a deadly undergrad. I had greatly underappreciated the lab's work mostly because I had spent a few days restlessly going through maps upon maps of genetic markers, a jumble of incoherent letters and numbers. It is cliche to describe a research project as a small piece of a huge jigsaw puzzle but that's how it is. Our lab looking at fish is such a small step in the overall goal of curing cystic fibrosis. Zebrafish are so different from humans that how can studying its gut give any understanding to a lung disease? Here is my undergrad comprehension of it (thank you, mentors!): Biological tube formation (organs) is controlled by certain genes. Obviously, tubes in our bodies are differentiated based on function so that the stomach is different in form and function from the esophagus or the intestines. The zebrafish gut develops from two lumens (openings, channels) to one lumen but sometimes a mutation occurs that brings about an intestine with two or more lumens. By finding out how this process of lumen formation is regulated, scientists in the lab can better understand how organs are formed--or deformed. Another mutation is more closely related to cystic fibrosis. In zebrafish, the gut has an ion channel that regulates the transfer of ions in and out of the gut. Naturally, water would enter the gut as it is the vehicle, so to say. So, when there is no channel, no water comes through. In cystic fibrosis patients, this results in the build-up of mucus in the lungs (yet another tube). The mutation leading to this is actually pretty common. Overall, that is the goal of the lab and I have come to appreciate it more. Genetic mapping can be tedious but as my PI reminded me, that's how it is. Brilliant man.
