9419990 Hayes This project is basic biological research has practical implications for improving the human condition. The cells that compose an animal must communicate with each other to coordinate their actions to make the individual functional as an organism. There is a fundamental molecular language that exists for cells to "talk" with one another. The "words and sentences" of that language are different molecules and one of the most often used types of molecules are the peptides. These are small fragments of molecules called proteins that are the direct products of gene expression. The "ears" that cells have to hear the molecular language are called receptors. Rather than using human or vertebrate subjects as a model for our research, Dr. Hayes has turned to a pest that plagues humans from their beginning, the mosquito. The female mosquito must consume two-and-a-half times her body weight in blood to have the protein to make eggs. During this feeding, she must rapidly eliminate the massive weight of the excess salt and water not needed for making eggs. The brain, the nervous system, the "crop", the "stomach", the "kidneys", the "intestines", and the rectum must "talk" and coordinate to keep the animal alive and deal with this challenge. Some of the molecular messenger peptides that are used allow the cells of these tissues to "talk" with one another. Analogs of these peptides will be used to understand the parts and shapes of the molecules that carry these messages. This understanding will be used to design and make molecular tools to specifically tag the receptors. The molecular tools, called photoaffinity labels, will also be used to isolate genes that code for the receptor proteins for structure determination. Knowing the important structures for the "message" (i.e. the peptide) and the "ears" (i.e. the receptor) are critical to break the general code for communication between cells. Understanding the general aspects of the language is already providing a foundation f or the design of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, plus future, effective, environmentally safe pesticides that do not harm human beings. ***
