And speaking of John Yoder: here is his video protocol in JoVE for abdominal dissections and immunohistochemistry. This should be useful to some of you.
Month: April 2012
John Yoder has just published a new paper looking at the interaction between dsx and Abd-B in sculpting the posterior abdominal segments in males vs females. The posterior abdomen is clearly sexually dimorphic, and in some respects the roles of dsxM and Abd-B in the abdomen are similar to the roles of dsxM and Scr in the sex comb. In particular, dsx expression is regulated by Abd-B. But there are also important differences – for example, Abd-B does not seem to be affected by Dsx. Check it out.
We will be reading a paper by Jonathan D. Gruber who is from Patricia Wittkopp’s lab. In the paper they compare Protein coding, cis, and trans mutations in S. cerevisiae that lead to an increase or decrease in the fluorescent of a reporter gene (YFP) http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1002497 .
The latest issue of NRG has a primer on genome annotation principles and software:
http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v13/n5/full/nrg3174.html?WT.ec_id=NRG-201205
Here is another attempt at the melanogaster group phylogeny:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21985965
Unfortunately, it does not tell us anything we don’t already know. Let us hope that a proper phylogenomic analysis using the new genome sequences will finally nail down those pesky internal nodes.
The review paper on the role of DM-domain genes in the development and evolution of sexual dimorphism is published in Trends in Genetics:
http://www.cell.com/trends/genetics/abstract/S0168-9525%2812%2900017-0?script=true
And check the journal cover for a nice picture of the sex comb of D. ficusphila:
http://www.cell.com/trends/genetics/issue?pii=S0168-9525%2812%29X0004-0#
This quarter, WCB will be 3-4 pm on alternate Fridays. Dave led the first club session with a lucid explanation of why sticklebacks are goofy. We will resume April 27.
Angus receives the College of Biological Sciences Dean’s Mentorship Award for his work with undergraduate students. This award fosters excellence in research and mentorship for undergraduate students seeking careers in the sciences. Congratulations to Angus and his undergraduate colleagues, Pam and Nancy!
This year’s lab snowshoe trip was moderately successful. As luck would have it, the first major storm of the season rolled in just as we were ready to head to Peter Grubb cabin for an easy overnighter. The good news is that everyone came back in one piece; not so good news is that we did not even make it to the cabin after wallowing waist-deep in fresh snow for half a day. See Thad’s Snow Awards post for details. Let’s hope we have better luck next year.
And in the meantime – it’s time to start planning our summer backpacking trip. Let’s see what natural disasters that will precipitate.
Angus wins the 2011-2012 Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Diversity and Community! This award recognizes contributions in enhancing inclusiveness and diversity within the campus community, and is awarded to one and only one graduate student each year. Angus received the award at the reception held at the Chancellor’s Residence. This was the first time I saw him wearing a tie.