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Developmental biology. segmentation of growing tissues. molecular genetics of Drosophila leg developmentA fundamental process in the development of many organisms. including annelids. arthropods. and vertebrates. is segmentation. which serves to subdivide tissues into a series of repeating building blocks along either the body axis. or in some cases. the appendage axis.In most cases of segmentation. the subdivision of a tissue into repeating units must occur repeatedly as the tissue grows in size.The molecular mechanisms involved in generating a repeating segmental pattern in growing tissues are not well understood. We use Drosophila. with its powerful genetics and its known genome sequence. as a model organism in which to study the segmentation of growing tissues. In particular our work focuses on identifying the molecules required for segmentation of the Drosophila leg. a tissue in which segmentation must repeat continuously and must be coordinated with tissue growth.In recent years some of the key members involved in Drosophila leg segmentation have been identified.Importantly. the Notch signaling pathway plays an essential role in the segmentation and growth of the Drosophila leg. The Notch signaling pathway is conserved amongst many animal species. and is fundamental to a wide range of developmental processes. and deregulated Notch signaling results in cancer and developmental abnormalities. Local activation of Notch in each leg segment has two important morphological consequences: leg segmentation and growth. Identifying the target genes regulated downstream of Notch signaling is crucial to our ultimate understanding of how. molecularly. leg segmentation and leg growth occur. We have identified several genes. including four-jointed and the odd-skipped family. that are regulated by Notch activation and are themselves expressed in segmentally repeated patterns within developing legs.We are currently investigating how these genes contribute to Drosophila leg development.s Selected PublicationsRogulja D, Rauskolb C, Irvine KD. (2008) Morphogen control of wing growth through the Fat signaling pathway. Dev Cell. 15(2):309-21. Cho E, Feng Y, Rauskolb C, Maitra S, Fehon R, Irvine KD. (2006) Delineation of a fat tumor suppressor pathway. Nat Genet. 38(10):1142-50. Mao Y. Rauskolb C. Cho E. Hu WL. Hayter H. Minihan G. Katz FN. Irvine KD. (2006) Dachs: an unconventional myosin that functions downstream of Fat to regulate growth. affinity and gene expression in Drosophila. Development. 133(13):2539-51. Hao I. Green RB. Dunaevsky O. Lengyel JA. Rauskolb C. (2003) The odd-skipped family of zinc finger genes promotes Drosophila leg segmentation. Dev Biol. 263(2):282-95. Irvine. K. D. and Rauskolb. C. (2001). Boundaries in development: formation and function. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 17. 189-214. Rauskolb. C.. Correia. T. and Irvine. K. D. (1999). Fringe-dependent separation of dorsal and ventral cells in the Drosophila wing. Nature 401. 476-480. Rauskolb. C. and Irvine. K. D. (1999). Notch-mediated segmentation and growth control of the Drosophila leg. Dev. Biol. 210. 339-350. |
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