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Eryong Huang
Baylor College of MedicineDepartment: Molecular & Human GeneticsAddress: One Baylor Plaza, Rm. S416 Houston, TX 77030 Phone: (713) 798-4347 Fax: (713) 798-1021 Email: eh139881@bcm.tmc.edu Web: |
Education
M.S. Medical Sciences, China Medical University (1999); M.S. Molecular Biology, Purdue Univeristy (2002)
Honors
2003-2004 Fellowship of WM Keck Center of Computational and Structural Biology,
2004 Best Poster Award, SCBMB/CMB Research Conference
Research Topic
bZIP transcription factors and the development of Dictyostelium Discoideum
Research Description
The slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum has a characteristic uni-cellular to multi-cellular differentiation process that is induced by starvation. This is a highly regulated process and requires the cooperation of multiple signaling pathways. My aim is to identify all 19 bZIP transcription factors (TF) in the genome and study their function both experimentally and computationally. My plan is to knock out individual bZIPs and learn their phenotypes. DimA is a bZIP transcription factor that has been shown to be necessary for DIF-1 response, which is an alkyl hexanone produced by prespore cells and play an important role in stalk cell formation. However, the complexity of DIF-1 effects and the dimerization nature of bZIP transcription factors (TF) necessitate the studies on its dimerization partners in the whole genome. I have successfully knocked out 7 other bZIPs, and out of these 7 strains, dimB- shares similar phenotypic defects as dimA-. A great deal of work has been done on phenotyping dimB- mutant, and the results show that DimA and DimB could dimerize in vitro. My next plan is to do microarray phenotyping on the mutants. Differential analysis will be done to catch the candidate target genes of each individual bZIP. Dimerization pattern between each bZIP TFs will also be studied.
Selected Publications
- Eryong Huang, Simone L. Blagg, Thomas Keller, Gad Shaulsky and Christopher R. L.Thompson.(2005) bZIP Transcription Factor Interactions Regulate DIF Responses in Dictyostelium. Development, In Press
- Gad Shaulsky and Eryong Huang, (2005) Chapter 5. Components of the Dictyostelium Gene Expression Regulatory Machinery. Dictyostelium Genomics, 83-101
- Qikai Xu, Miroslava Ibarra, Dana Mahadeo, Chad Shaw, Eryong Huang, Adam Kuspa, David Cotter, and Gad Shaulsky (2004). Transcriptional transitions during Dictyostelium spore germination. Eukaryotic Cell, 3:1101-1110.
Last edited on: March 17, 2008