Project Details
Description
The goals of this Program are to define the organization and expression of
identified genetic loci which function as essential components of cell
growth and development. Two criteria are critical to a productive study of
growth and developmental regulation. The organism of choice must be
amenable to both genetic and biochemical manipulation, and in each case
specific genetic loci must be identified which play a key role in the
process being studied.
(a) The cell membrane has an essential role in the coordination of cellular
events in such diverse organisms as Caulobacter, yeast, E. coli and
Dictyostelium. L. Shapiro and S. Henry will determine the mechanism by
which membrane lipid and protein synthesis is involved in the temporal and
spacial regulation of a set of identified structural proteins during the
Caulobacter cell cycle. (b) S. Henry will analyze the structure and
expression of the gene encoding the essential lipid-biosynthetic enzyme
inositol-l-phosphate synthase during the yeast cell cycle, in order to
understand the coordinate control of cytoplasmic and membrane-bound
enzymes. (c) Chromosomal genetic loci in E. coli have been shown to encode
proteins which participate in a variety of membrane-associated functions.
P. Silverman will determine how the cell envelope functions in what appears
to be an organizational capacity to regulate donor activity and the ilv
biosynthetic pathway. (d) Motility mutants in Dictyostelium express a
surprising array of membrane-mediated functions which are related to the
cytoplasmic actin-myosin complex. Dr. Clarke will determine how such
events as motility, axenic growth, pinocytosis, cell shape and surface
substrate-cell interactions are co-regulated by the products of single
genetic loci. (e) Drs. J. Chase and S. Hawley are studying DNA ligase,
which is an essential enzyme in replication, repair and recombination, from
an organism, Drosophila, which exhibits a full complement of developmental
functions yet permits access to genetic manipulation. Their objectives are
to determine how the gene encoding histone proteins form a multigene family
whose expression varies as a function of cell differentiation. The goals
of Drs. Emmons and Childs are to determine the consequences of this
differential gene expression and to understand the organization and
controlled expression of this multigene family in C. elegans.
Status | Finished |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 1/1/01 → 1/1/90 |
ASJC
- Genetics
- Molecular Biology
- Biochemistry
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
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