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.

Selected Publications

Tabata, T. and Kornberg, T.B. (1994). Hedgehog is a signaling protein with a key role in patterning Drosophila imaginal discs. Cell 76:89-102.

Ramirez-Weber, F.-A. and Kornberg, T.B. (1999) Cytonemes: cellular processes that project to the principal signaling center in Drosophila imaginal discs. Cell 97, 599-607.

Sato, M. and Kornberg T.B. (2002). FGF is an essential mitogen and chemoattractant for the air sacs of the drosophila tracheal system. Dev Cell. 3(2):195-207.

Craniofacial and Mesenchymal Biology home page

Fat cells in culture

Osteoblast depositing
bone matrix

The UCSF Program in Craniofacial and Mesenchymal Biology

FACULTY

Tom Kornberg

Developmental Regulation

The UCSF Program
in Craniofacial and Mesenchymal Biology