CVRI Scientists

Thomas B. Kornberg, Ph.D.
Professor and Vice Chair of Biochemistry & Biophysics

Research Interests:
Developmental regulation

Summary:
Our work investigates the genetic and molecular mechanisms that cells use to adopt their assigned fates during development. We focus on one of the striking features of Drosophila development, the process that subdivides each epidermal segment of the insect into an Anterior and a Posterior developmental compartment. The compartment border at the juxtaposition of these two groups of cells has special properties that keep the cells of each compartment separate; it also functions as a signaling center to regulate growth and development of both compartments. Recent progress has identified the genetic network responsible for the generation and function of the compartment border in the Drosophila wing imaginal disc. This genetic network is controlled by the posterior compartment-specific engrailed gene, and it deploys hedgehog (hh) in the posterior compartment and cubitis interrptus (ci), patched and decapentaplegic (dpp) in the anterior compartment. Hh and Dpp proteins function as morphogens to regulate growth and development; current work in the lab is directed to understanding the signal transduction mechanisms that these proteins use. Key recent findings are that post-translational processing of the Ci protein is a pivotal aspect of Hh signal transduction and that imaginal disc cells have thin, actin-based extensions (cytonemes) that project to the signaling center.