Our lab is interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying the development of the C. elegans early embryo and organ formation. C. elegans is a genetically tractable model organism with an extensive array of resources and molecular and cellular tools available to facilitate study. To this end, we are analysing the roles played by Patched (Hh receptors) protein homologs in germline stem cells and early embryonic cell divisions and their possible connections to lipids. We are also examining how these early cells respond to radiation by studying genes involved in the DNA damage response and DNA repair. Our studies have further led us to study the events controlling the morphogenesis of epithelial cells and lumen formation during organogenesis. Projects will build upon these themes and will involve the application of genetic and molecular analyses combined with confocal imaging and proteomics.
Webpage: http://www.bris.ac.uk/biochemistry/research/pk.html
References:
1. Soloviev A, Gallagher J, Marnef A, Kuwabara PE (2011) C. elegans patched-3 is an essential gene implicated in osmoregulation and requiring an intact permease transporter domain. Dev Biol 351: 242-253
2. Astin, JW, O’Neil, NJ and Kuwabara, P.E. (2008) Nucleotide excision repair and the degradation of RNA pol II by the Caenorhabditis elegans XPA and Rsp5 orthologues, RAD-3 and WWP-1. DNA Repair 7, 267-280
3. Bürglin, T.R. and Kuwabara, P.E. Homologs of the Hh signalling network in C. elegans (January 28, 2006), WormBook, ed. The C. elegans Research Community, WormBook, doi/10.1895/wormbook.1.76.1, http://www.wormbook.org.
4. Bergamaschi, D, Samuels, Y, O'Neil, NJ, Trigiante, G, Crook, T, Hsieh, J-K, O'Conner, DJ, Zhong, S, Campargue, I, Tomlinson, ML, Kuwabara, P.E. & Lu, X. (2003) iASPP oncoprotein is a key inhibitor of p53 conserved from worm to human. Nature Genetics 33, 162-167