Dr. Kenneth Kemphues
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Early Cell Fate Specification in c.elegans
 
Beers, M. and Kemphues, K. 2006. Student Questions about the article entitled: Depletion of the co-chaperone CDC-37 reveals two modes of PAR-6 cortical association in C. elegans embryos. Development. 133(19):
 
Question 01 Movie

Briefly tell us a bit about yourself, your career path over the years, and specifically what led you to begin working on polarity in C.elegans.

Michael Barresi

 
Question 02 Movie

When the sperm centrosome signals to the cortex what kind of signal is it making, and how, if at all, does this signal regulatete cortical ruffling?

Andrea Caceres

 
Question 03 Movie

Why is the mutual exclusion of PAR proteins dependent on PAR-5 when if either anterior or posterior PAR proteins are absent the proteins are no longer mutually exclusive to their wild type domain? What is it about the PAR-5 protein that is necessary for mutual exclusion?

Kristin Alligood

 
Question 04 Movie

You proposed that cdc-37 and one or more of its client proteins(s) function in wild-type cells to block the binding of Par-6 to the unknown cortically associated protein. What do you think these client proteins could be and are you doing any further research on this topic?

Follow up question: Discovery of the effect of double stranded RNA knock down, and comments about feeding C.elegans RNAi.

Caroline Walsh

 
Question 05 Movie

The article states that one of the ways that Par-6 can localize to the cortex is a cdc-42 dependent process and is blocked by action of cdc-37 and an unknown cortical-binding site. Can you explain this interaction a bit more, and mention whether you or others are investigating the nature of this binding site?

Kristina DiPietrantonio

 
Question 06 Movie

I am slightly confused about the role of GFP::MEX-5 and why you chose to use it as a marker of embryonic polarity. What is the role of GFP::MEX-5? Is it necessary for polarity?

Tram Nguyen

 
Question 07 Movie

The article states that homolog PAR proteins have been identified in humans. What impact would knocking out or interfering with CDC-37 have on a human embryo? At such an early stage of development would interfering with CDC-37, thus interfering with the PAR proteins, be fatal?

Kate Yohay

 
Question 08 Movie

In your opinion what are the most pressing questions about the role of Pars and cell polarity today in C.elegans or in other species, and what steps is your lab taking to address those questions.

Michael Barresi