Featured Publications
Membrane potential drives the exit from pluripotency and cell fate commitment via calcium and mTOR
Sempou E, Kostiuk V, Zhu J, Cecilia Guerra M, Tyan L, Hwang W, Camacho-Aguilar E, Caplan M, Zenisek D, Warmflash A, Owens N, Khokha M. Membrane potential drives the exit from pluripotency and cell fate commitment via calcium and mTOR. Nature Communications 2022, 13: 6681. PMID: 36335122, PMCID: PMC9637099, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34363-w.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsPluripotent cellsAdult tissue homeostasisCell fate commitmentDifferentiated cell fatesLeft-right patterningPluripotent embryonic cellsHuman embryonic stem cellsTemporal transcriptome analysisGene regulatory networksExpense of differentiationEmbryonic stem cellsGerm layer differentiationMembrane depolarizationFate commitmentPluripotent stateCell fateTranscriptome analysisRegulatory networksMyogenic lineageEmbryonic developmentTissue homeostasisDifferentiated fateEmbryonic cellsCandidate genesPluripotencyRAPGEF5 Regulates Nuclear Translocation of β-Catenin
Griffin JN, del Viso F, Duncan AR, Robson A, Hwang W, Kulkarni S, Liu KJ, Khokha MK. RAPGEF5 Regulates Nuclear Translocation of β-Catenin. Developmental Cell 2017, 44: 248-260.e4. PMID: 29290587, PMCID: PMC5818985, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2017.12.001.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsLeft-right patterningNuclear transportΒ-cateninNuclear transport pathwaysΒ-catenin nuclear transportNuclear translocationRap1a/bExchange factorCytoplasmic stabilizationEmbryonic developmentNuclear localizationCanonical WntRAPGEF5WntPathway activationNew targetsTransport pathwaysTranslocationPatterningDisease statesTransport systemGTPasesIntensive investigationGuanineCommon diseaseCongenital Heart Disease Genetics Uncovers Context-Dependent Organization and Function of Nucleoporins at Cilia
del Viso F, Huang F, Myers J, Chalfant M, Zhang Y, Reza N, Bewersdorf J, Lusk CP, Khokha MK. Congenital Heart Disease Genetics Uncovers Context-Dependent Organization and Function of Nucleoporins at Cilia. Developmental Cell 2016, 38: 478-492. PMID: 27593162, PMCID: PMC5021619, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2016.08.002.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsNuclear pore complexPore complexCiliary pore complexLeft-right patterningBarrel-like structureNPC functionEmbryonic developmentCandidate genesNup188Human genomicsNanoscale organizationNucleoporinsDirect roleSuper-resolution imagingCiliaLoss of ciliaNup93GenomicsComplexesGenesKnockdownDuplicationPatterningMechanism
2023
CFAP45, a heterotaxy and congenital heart disease gene, affects cilia stability
Deniz E, Pasha M, Guerra M, Viviano S, Ji W, Konstantino M, Jeffries L, Lakhani S, Medne L, Skraban C, Krantz I, Khokha M. CFAP45, a heterotaxy and congenital heart disease gene, affects cilia stability. Developmental Biology 2023, 499: 75-88. PMID: 37172641, PMCID: PMC10373286, DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2023.04.006.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsLeft-right organizerCilia stabilityLeft-right patterningCongenital heart disease genesApical surfaceCell apical surfaceLive confocal imagingLeftward fluid flowHeart disease genesRecessive missense mutationLethal birth defectMotile monociliaProtein familyEarly embryogenesisMulticiliated cellsCiliary axonemeDisease genesFrog embryosGenetic underpinningsWhole-exome sequencingMissense mutationsConfocal imagingEmbryosCiliaCongenital heart disease
2022
Mink1 regulates spemann organizer cell fate in the xenopus gastrula via Hmga2
Colleluori V, Khokha M. Mink1 regulates spemann organizer cell fate in the xenopus gastrula via Hmga2. Developmental Biology 2022, 495: 42-53. PMID: 36572140, PMCID: PMC10116378, DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2022.11.010.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsSpemann organizerCell fateTranscription factorsMolecular mechanismsSerine/threonine kinaseLeft-right patterningProper heart developmentUnbiased proteomic approachArchitectural transcription factorPlausible molecular mechanismCHD candidate genesVertebrate embryosThreonine kinaseProteomic approachXenopus gastrulaCommon birth defectsHeart developmentCandidate genesCanonical WntOrganizer cellsSequencing studiesMINK1Critical effectorΒ-cateninHMGA2