PAUL N. ADLER

Contact Information

Research Interests

My major research interest is the genetic control of morphogenesis at the interface between the cell and
tissue levels. As a model system we have studied the Drosophila wing, which is covered with an array of distally pointing hairs. Some years ago we found hair polarity is controlled via regulating the subcellular location for initiation of the growth of the pupal prehair that gives rise to the adult hair. Distally pointing hairs form at the distal most region of the cell and grow in a distal direction. Mutations that alter polarity always alter the subcellular location for prehair initiation. We have identified and studied at the molecular and genetic levels a number of genes that comprise part of an intercellular signaling and intracellular signal transduction pathway frizzled pathway) that regulates the subcellular location for prehair initiation. A major goal of the lab is to elucidate the who (i.e. which genes and cells are important for sending, receiving and responding to the polarity signal), what (i.e what is the molecular nature of the signal and signal transduction machinery), when (i.e. when does the signaling take place), where (i.e. is there a special population of signaling cells and how does the signal spread across the tissue), and how (i.e. what are the cellular and biochemical mechanisms involved) of this system. Current efforts are primarily concentrated on the inturned-like genes. These genes function downstream of the frizzled-like genes and are required to link the localized accumulation of proteins such as Frizzled and Van Gogh to the cytoskeleton.

We are also studying how cells insure the integrity of cellular extensions. The morphogenesis of epidermal hairs, arista laterals and sensory bristle shafts share many common features. The function of both the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons is essential for their morphogenesis and many mutations produce similar phenotypic effects in all three of these cell types. Mutations in the tricornered and furry genes result in the splitting of all three extensions and genetic experiments suggest these two genes function in a common pathway that insured extension integrity. We have shown that tricornered encodes the Drosphila NDR kinase and that furry encodes a large conserved protein. We plan to continue to study these genes and proteins and the splitting phenomenon at the cellular and molecular level. Current experiments are making important use of in vivo imaging approaches.

Recent Publications:

Turner, C.M. and Adler, P.N. (1995) The in vitro morphogenesis of pupal wings. Mech. of Develop.
52:247-256.

Jones, K. H., Liu, J. and P. N. Adler (1996) Molecular analysis of EMS induced frizzled mutations in
D. melanogaster. Genetics 142:205-215.

Park, W.J., Liu, J. and Adler, P.N. (1996).The Drosophila tissue polarity gene inturned acts cell autonomously and encodes a novel protein. Development 122:961-969.

Platero, J. S., Sharp, E.J., Adler, P.N. and Eissenberg, J.C. (1996). In vivo assay for protein-protein interactions using Drosophila chromosomes. Chromosoma 104:393-404.

Sharp, E.J., Abramova, N. A., Park, W.J. and Adler, P.N. (1997). The conserved HR domain of the Drosophila Supressor 2 of zeste and murine bmi-1 proteins constitutes a locus-specific chromosomal binding domain. Chromosoma, 106:70-80.

Adler, P.N.,Krasnow, R.E., and Liu, J. (1997). Tissue polarity points from cells of higher Frizzled levels
toward cells of lower Frizzled levels. Current Biology 7:940-949.

Turner, C.M. and Adler, P.N. (1998). The actin and microtubule cytoskeletons have distinct functions in the
morphogenesis of prehairs by pupal wing cells of Drosophila. Mechanisms of Development, 7: 181-192.

Adler, P. N., Charlton, J., and Liu, J. (1998). Mutations in the cadherin superfamily gene dachsous have a tissue polarity phenotype and affect frizzled signaling. Development 125: 959-968.

Taylor, J., Abramova, N. Charlton, J. and Adler, P. N. (1998). Van Gogh A new tissue polarity gene. Genetics 150: 199-210

Jeong, U., Kim, S.Y., Liu, J., Adler, P.N., Bae, E., Kim, J. and Park, W.J. (1999) The inturned protein of
Drosophila melanogaster is a cytoplasmic protein located at the cell peripehry in wing cells. Developmental Genetics 25: 297-305.

Chae, J.W., Kim, M.J., Goo, J.H., Collier, S., Gubb, D., Charlton, J., Adler, P.N. and Park, W.J. (1999). The Drosophila tissue polarity gene starry night encodes a member of the protocadherin family. Development, 126:5421-5429.

Collier, S., Chan, H. Y. E., Toda, T., McKimmie, C., Johnson, G., Adler, P. N., O'Kane, C. and Ashburner, M. (2000). The Drosophila embargoed gene is required for larval progression and encodes the functional homolog of Schizosacchromyces Crm1. Genetics 155: 1799-1807.

Adler, P. N., Taylor, J. and Charlton, J. (2000). The Domineering Nonautonomy of frizzled and Van Gogh Clones in the Drosophila Wing is a Consequence of a Disruption in Local Signaling. Mech. Dev. 96:
197-207.

Geng, W., He, B., Wang, M. and Adler, P. N. (2000). The tricornered gene, which encodes the Drosophila NDR kinase is required to maintain the integrity of cellular extensions. Genetics 156:1817-1828.

Adler, P. N., Liu, J. and Charlton, J. (2000). Cell size and the morphogenesis of wing hairs in Drosophila. Genesis 28:82-91.

He, B. and Adler, P. N. (2001). Cellular Mechanisms in the Development of the Drosphila arista. Mechanisms of Development, Mech. Dev, 104:69-78.

Adler, P. N. and J. Taylor (2001).Frizzled signaling: simple but not plane.Current Biology, 11, R233-236

Cong, J., Geng, W., He, B., Liu, J., Charlton, J. and P. N. Adler (2001). The furry gene of Drosophila is important for maintaining the integrity of cellular extensions during morphogenesis. Development, 128:2793-2802

Adler, P.N. and H. Lee (2001). Planar polarity and frizzled signaling. Current Opinions in Cell Biology,
13:635-640.

He, B. and Adler, P. N. (2002). The genetic control of arista morphogenesis. Development, Genes and
Evolution, 212:218-229.

Lee, H. and Adler, P. N. (2002). The inturned and fuzzy genes are required for the function of the frizzled
pathway in the wing. Genetics 160:1535-1547.

He, B. and Adler, P. N. (2002). The frizzled pathway regulates the development of arista laterals. BMC
Developmental Biology 2:7.

Fei, X., B. He and P. N. Adler (2002). The growth of Drosophila bristles and laterals is not restricted to the
tip or base. J. Cell Sci, 115:3797-3806

Adler, P. N. (2002). Planar Signaling and Morphogenesis in Drosophila. Developmental Cell, 2, 525-535.

Current Lab Members:

Jeannette Charlton

Job Taylor

Ying He

Chunming Zhu

Nan Ren

Xiaolan Fang

Jie Yun

David Stone

Former Lab Members

Brad Justice

SeYeon Chung

Xiaoyin Fei

Xiaojing Tian

Haeryun Lee

Mina Wang

Sreenatha Kirakodu

Jingli Cong

Simon Collier

Biao He

Wei Geng

Jingchun Liu

Qing Shi

Natasha Abramova

Woo Jin Park

Chris Turner

Randi Krasnow

Lily Wong

Will Roberts

Kathy Jones

Matt Allison

Ed Sharp

Elizabeth Martin

Sharon Conover

Joan Graves

Lisa Klein

Ellen Shimakawa

Cliff Bishop

Brian Brunk

Chuck Vinson

Rob Greenberg

Peggy MacQueen

Maintained by pna@virginia.edu
Last Modified: 8/26/03