PROJECTS:
Hindbrain patterning
Evo-devo
Pancreas development

PROJECTS: Hindbrain Patterning

Oni Mapp - Graduate student, Committee on Developmental Biology
Sarah Wanner - Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Organismal Biology & Anatomy
Anna Griffith - Undergraduate Student, Department of Organismal Biology & Anatomy

The hindbrain is the part of the brain that controls those functions you literally don’t think about like respiration, heart beat and peristalsis. In addition, cranial nerves projecting from the hindbrain control muscles in the jaw, eye and face, and receive sensory input from these same areas. In all vertebrates the hindbrain is transiently segmented into seven segments termed “rhombomeres”. The rhombomeric organization of the hindbrain coordinates neuronal patterning as well as neural crest cell migration, playing a central role in development of the entire craniofacial region. We are particularly interested in how Hox genes function to pattern the hindbrain, and in the processes of hindbrain morphogenesis.

Selected Papers

McClintock J, Carlson R, Mann D and Prince VE. 2001. Consequences of Hox gene duplication in the vertebrates: An investigation of the zebrafish hox paralogue group 1 genes. Development 128, 2471-2484. (PubMed)

Moens CB and Prince VE. 2002. Constructing the hindbrain: Insights from the zebrafish. Developmental Dynamics 224, 1-17. (PubMed)

McClintock J, Kheirbek M and Prince VE. 2002. Knock-down of duplicated zebrafish hoxb1 genes reveals distinct roles in hindbrain patterning and a novel mechanism of duplicate gene retention. Development 129, 2339-2354. (PubMed)

Hale M, Kheirbek M, Schriefer JE, and Prince VE. 2004. The function of Mauthner cell duplicates in startle behavior: Insights into the evolution of new neural circuits. J. Neurosci. 24, 3070-3076. (PubMed)

Hadrys T, Prince V, Hunter M, Baker R, and Rinkwitz S. 2004. Comparative analysis of vertebrate Hoxb3 and Hoxb4 gene regulatory elements. J. Exp. Zool.B. Molecular Development and Evolution 302, 147-164. (PubMed)

Hadrys T, Punnamoottil B, Pieper M, Kikuta H, Pezeron G, Becker TS, Prince V, Baker, R and Rinkwitz S. 2006. Conserved co-regulation and promoter sharing of hoxb3a and hoxb4a in zebrafish. Developmental Biology 297, 26-43. (PubMed)

Rohrschneider, MR, Elsen, GE and Prince, VE. 2007. Zebrafish Hoxb1a regulates multiple downstream targets including prickle1b. Developmental Biology 309, 358-372. (PubMed)

Skromne I, Thorsen D, Hale M, Prince VE and Ho, RK. 2007. Repression of the hindbrain developmental program by Cdx factors is required for the specification of the vertebrate spinal cord. Development 134, 2147-2158. (PubMed)

Elsen GE, Choi LY, Millen KJ, Grinblat Y and Prince VE. 2008. Zic1 and Zic4 regulate zebrafish roof plate specification and hindbrain ventricle morphogenesis. Developmental Biology 314, 376-392. (PubMed)

Elsen, GE, Choi LY, Prince VE and Ho RK. The autism susceptibility gene met regulates zebrafish cerebellar development and facial motor neuron migration. Dev Biol. 2009 (in press) (PubMed)

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