Developmental Evolution

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor of Biology, New York University

EDUCATION:
• PhD 1986 (Genetics), Connecticut
• BA 1980 (Biology), Dartmouth College

MEMBERSHIPS:
• Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
• Genetics Society of America
• Society of Nematologists
• Harvey Society

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
My lab (http://wormtails.bio.nyu.edu/Home.html) is interested in understanding the genetic networks and mechanisms responsible for developmental and evolutionary changes in cell shape (cellular morphogenesis). As a model system, we are studying the morphogenesis of the male tail in Caenorhabditis elegans. This simple feature is constructed of only 4 cells that, only in late-stage juvenile males, fuse and change their shape and position, resulting in a rounded adult tail. We have found over 200 genes that are regulators or effectors in tail tip morphogenesis. A general 'bow-tie' architecture for the genetic network appears to be emerging: many signaling modules and transcription factors regulate a core set of male-specific DM-domain transcription factors which then coordinate multiple downstream effectors of the cytoskeleton, fusion machinery, and endosomal trafficking machinery. In some related nematode species, the male tail tip cells retain the pointed shape of the juvenile. Our molecular phylogeny of rhabditid nematodes shows that rounded and pointed male tails have evolved repeatedly. Once we have delineated the genetic architecture underlying tail tip morphogenesis in C. elegans, we are interested to determine how changes in this architecture produced different forms. In particular, we aim to test if similar evolutionary changes occurred by similar or different types of changes in the genetic network; i.e. to test whether evolution is highly constrained by development or not.