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Valerie Reinke |
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| Assistant Professor of Genetics |
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* B.S. University of Illinois, 1990
* Ph.D. University of Texas (Houston), 1996
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| Research Interests: | |
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* Functional genomic analysis of global gene expression mechanisms
* C. elegans germline development
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| My laboratory uses whole-genome functional genomics approaches to study how underlying gene expression programs regulate the development of an animal.
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| Current Research: | |
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| We focus on the development of a single tissue, the germline, in the model
organism C. elegans. This small nematode provides two key advantages:
an excellent genetic system for understanding how cell fate is specified, and
a completely sequenced and well-annotated genome. We use functional genomics
tools to dissect the molecular mechanisms governing germ cell maintenance and
differentiation in the model organism C. elegans. Conserved
regulatory pathways, such as the Notch, Ras, and Retinoblastoma pathways, act
to control proliferation and differentiation in these cells. The
developing C. elegans germline requires tight spatial and temporal
control of gene activity for proper formation. Epigenetic control of gene
expression plays an important role in governing germ cell fate through the
post-translational modification of histones and by RNAi-mediated
post-transcriptional control. Projects in the lab investigate the
mechanisms controlling germ cell specification in the early embryo, as well as
the regulatory hierarchy controlling germline stem cells before and after
differentiation into functional gametes.
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| Current Projects: | |
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| Germline stem cells. Virtually all
cells in C. elegans are born within a determinate lineage. The
single exception is a pair of primordial germ cells, which divide an
unspecified number of times to populate the gonad. These
proliferative germ cells bear several hallmarks of stem cells: they
require a niche in the distal end of the gonad for maintenance, they
self-renew, and they retain totipotency, since they can generate every cell
type of the subsequent generation. Their maintenance also requires Notch
signaling. We have used a functional genomics approach to investigate
the properties of germline stem cells in C. elegans, and identified a
large set of genes expressed primarily in germline stem cells. Many of these
genes encode proteins predicted to function in chromatin-binding and
transcriptional regulation, in RNA binding and RNA regulation, and as
stress-activated chaperones. Efforts are underway in the lab to analyze the
function of these genes in germline stem cell proliferation.
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Germ cell-specific organelles. In C.
elegans, the germ line is set aside within the first few embryonic
divisions. As each cell in the embryonic P lineage divides, it produces
another P cell that retains germ cell characteristics, and a somatic cell that
does not. Within four divisions, the P lineage is completely segregated
from all somatic lineages. One feature that distinguishes germ cells
from somatic cells is the presence of unique cytoplasmic, RNA-rich, granular
organelles, whose exact function remains mysterious. In C.
elegans, these organelles, called P granules, are provided maternally and
segregate with the P lineage during the initial embryonic divisions. All
germ cells born from the P lineage contain P granules (except mature
sperm). Several protein components of P granules have been identified,
but their contribution to P granule function and germline viability remains
unclear. We have identified two novel, related proteins that localize
exclusively to embyonic P granules. They are not found in other cell
compartments or on P granules in larvae or adults. These genes are
called meg-1 and meg-2 (maternal-effect germ cell-defective),
and they are required for larval germ cell proliferation and normal P granule
morphology. meg-1 has genetic interactions with core components
of P granules that suggests that meg-1 and meg-2 are required to
regulate certain aspects of P granule function in the early P blastomeres
during the time that somatic and germ fates are intermingled. Current efforts
in the lab are directed toward defining the exact function of MEG-1 and MEG-2
and dissecting how P granules affect transcript stability in the early embryo.
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| Representative Publications: | |
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| Leacock, S.W., and Reinke, V. (2006). Expression profiling of MAP
kinase-mediated meiotic progression in C. elegans. PLoS Genetics 2:
1787-1800.
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| Chi, W. and Reinke, V. (2006). Promotion of oogenesis and embryogenesis in the
C. elegans germline by EFL-1/DPL-1(E2F) does not require LIN-35(pRB).
Development 133: 3147-3157.
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| Reinke V., San Gil, I., Ward, S. and Kazmer, K. (2004). Genome-wide
germline-enriched and sex-biased expression profiles in Caenorhabditis
elegans. Development 131: 311-323.
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| Kelly, W.G., Schaner, C.E., Dernburg, A.F., Lee, M.-H., Kim, S.K., Villeneuve,
A.M., and Reinke, V. (2002). X chromosome silencing in the germline of both
sexes in C. elegans. Development 129: 479-492.
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| Reinke, V., Smith, H., Nance, J., Wang, J., Van Doren, C., Begley, R., Jones,
S., Davis, E.B., Scherer, S., Ward, S., and Kim, S. (2000). A global profile
of germ line gene expression in C. elegans. Molecular Cell 6:
605-616.
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