Current position
Head,
Molecular Genetics and Evolution;
Director,
ARC Special Research Centre for the Molecular Genetics of Development.
Research interests
The
development of complex, multi-cellular organisms from a single
cell is a remarkable and intrinsically fascinating process. The
instructions for this process are encoded in the genetic program
and epigenetic imprints inherited by each individual. The genetic
program unfolds during development through the regulation of molecular
processes that control cell behaviours such as division, migration
and differentiation, ultimately generating the size, shape and
tissue pattern of the mature individual.
My
laboratory studies two aspects of development:
•
the mechanism of cell division, and
•
small GTPase signaling and the control of cell behaviour
during development.
We
use as our model system, Drosophila
melanogaster,
drawing on more than eight decades of genetic analysis and a detailed
description of the cellular basis of its development. Our studies
of the mechanism of cell division now focus on the role of regulators
of the Rho family GTPases in coordinating the microtubule and
actin cytoskeletal rearrangements that must occur for cytokinesis
(the physical splitting of the cell into two) to be positioned
in the correct position between separating chromosomes during
mitosis. Our studies of small GTPase signaling in cell behaviour
are currently focused on the role of the Pebble RhoGEF in mesoderm
cell behaviour during the epithelial to mesenchymal transition
early in embryogeneis, as well as on a variant subfamily of Ras
small GTPases, the RGK family. In the RGK case, we are using reverse
genetics to analyse the function of this variant subfamily.
Recently,
in collaboration with Dr. Eldon Ball (ANU) and Dr. David Miller
(James Cook University), we have also begun to examine developmental
events in coral (phylum Cnidaria
), a much simpler animal.
Selected Publications
T. Shandala, S.L. Gregory,
H.E. Dalton, M. Smallhorn and R. SAINT (2004) Citron kinase is
an essential effector of the Pbl-activated Rho signalling pathway
in Drosophila melanogaster . Development
131, 5053-5063.
E.E. Ball, D.C. Hayward,
R. SAINT and DJ Miller (2004). A simple plan – cnidarians and
the origins of developmental mechanisms. Nature Reviews Genetics
5, 567-577.
M. Smallhorn, M.J. Murray
and R. SAINT (2004) The epithelial-mesenchymal transition of the
Drosophila mesoderm requires the Rho GTP exchange factor,
Pebble. Development 131, 2641-2651.
R.D. Kortschak, G. Samuel,
R. SAINT* and D. Miller* (2003) EST analysis of the cnidarian
Acropora millepora reveals extensive gene loss and rapid sequence
divergence in the model invertebrates. Curr. Biol.
13, 2190-2195.
Somers, W.G. and SAINT, R. (2003)
“A RhoGEF and Rho Family GTPase-Activating Protein Complex Links
the Contractile Ring to Cortical Microtubules at the Onset of
Cytokinesis” Dev. Cell 4, 29-39.
Shandala, T., Takizawa, K. and SAINT,
R. (2003) The dead ringer/retained transcriptional regulatory
gene is required for positioning of the longitudinal glia in the
Drosophila embryonic CNS. Development 130, 1505-1513.
Hayward, D.C., Samuel, G., Pontynen,
P.C., Catmull, J. SAINT, R., Miller, D.J. and Ball E.E. (2002)
Localised expression of a DPP/BMP2/4 ortholog in a coral embryo.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 99, 8106-8111.
Samuel, G., Miller, D.J. and SAINT,
R. (2001) Conservation of a DPP/BMP signalling pathway in the
non-bilateral cnidarian, Acropora millepora. Evolution and Development.
3, 241-250.
Knox, R.B., Ladiges, P.B., Evans,
P. and SAINT, R. (2001) Biology (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill.
Full
Publication List
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