From: Grant Callaghan (grantc4@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu 31 Oct 2002 - 02:58:29 GMT
>>
>>>
>>>How do the genes for blood type affect cell division?
>>>
>>>Thanks,
>>>
>>>Bill
>>>
>>By being part of the information that replicates itself in the process.
>>If it weren't there and included in that process, blood would have
>>different characteristics or would not exist at all, in which case the
>>cell that divided would die. What's not there can't replicate nor
>>determine the makeup of the blood cells afterwards. That seems like a
>>pretty strong influence to me.
>>
>>
>Do mature human red blood cells have genes for blood type? If so, where are
>these genes located in the cell?
>
I don't know where the genes lie, but I do know that genes affect the shape
and substance of the cell.
Bernard G. Forget
Professor of Medicine and Genetics
B.A. University of Montreal, Canada, 1959
M.D. McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 1963
Research Interests:
Molecular Genetics of Erythroid Cell Differentiation
The human red blood cell provides an excellent model system for the study of
gene expression and the molecular basis of disease. In erythroid cells, a
number of genes are expressed in a tissue-specific and developmentally
regulated fashion. Furthermore, a number of inherited disorders of the red
cell are due to mutations that result in abnormal expression of these
specialized genes.
Current Research
My laboratory is involved in a research program concerned with the
mechanisms of normal and abnormal human globin gene expression and the study
of non-globin genes that are expressed during red blood cell
differentiation. The work on globin genes is devoted to the investigation of
molecular mechanisms involved in the neonatal switch from the synthesis of
fetal to adult hemoglobin, with an emphasis on the study of cis- and
trans-acting elements that control expression as well as naturally occuring
mutations that can influence globin gene expression.
A major research effort is also devoted to the study of the genes encoding
the red cell membrane skeleton protein called spectrin. Spectrin genes are
part of a multigene family, members of which are differentially expressed in
different tissues. In addition, we are investigating the molecular basis of
a number of genetic diseases of the red cell (hereditary hemolytic anemias)
that are due to disorders of spectrin. The structure and function of the
erythropoietin receptor gene is also being studied.
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