Research Interests:
Membrane traffic is required for many essential functions, such as controlling the accessibility of cell surface receptors, the translocation of glucose transporters in response to insulin, antigen presentation, neuronal transmission and the establishment and maintenance of epithelial cell polarity. Therefore, the regulation of membrane traffic is directly relevant to a broad range of human diseases including cancer, diabetes and neural degeneration. Rab GTPases are key regulators of membrane traffic. By recruiting and activating a functionally diverse set of effectors, a single Rab can coordinate the various sub-reactions within a given stage of membrane traffic, including vesicle budding, delivery, tethering and fusion. We are exploring the molecular mechanisms by which different stages of membrane traffic can be coordinated by coupling the activation and inactivation of different Rabs through cascade mechanisms. We are also studying the roles of different Rab effectors including the exocyst tethering complex and a homolog of the lgl tumor suppressor.
Key Words:
Cytoskeleton, Imaging, Membrane traffic and biogenesis, Signal transduction, Yeast
Recent Publications:
Munson, M. and Novick, P. 2006. The Exocyst defrocked, a framework of rods revealed. Nat. Struc. Mol. Biol. 13: 577-581.
Grosshans, B., Ortiz, D. and Novick, P. 2006. Rabs and their effectors: Achieving specificity in membrane traffic. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 103: 11821-11827.
Du, Y., Walker, L., Novick, P. and Ferro-Novick, S. 2006. The Mpk1p (Slt2p) cascade regulates ER inheritance. EMBO J. 19: 4413-4422.
Dong, G., Medkova, M., Novick, P. and Reinisch, K. M. 2007. The coiled-coil domain of Sec2p activates the Rab GTPase Sec4p. Mol. Cell 25:455-62
Track(s):
MCB
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