Activin is a pluripotent hormone/growth factor that is involved in important biological functions including reproduction, development, and cell differentiation and survival. This Project studies the molecular events that lead to signal propagation by this protein. Activin interacts with two classes of cell surface mutant activin molecules to study the events that initiate signal transduction. We will employ X-ray crystallographic and mutagenesis data obtained by this Program to design these mutants. The initial interaction with activin type II receptors will be analyzed in detail. The mechanism of interaction with type I regulation of these events will be investigated. To further our understanding of the specific activities of the related proteins activin and TGFbeta, we will generate chimeric molecules and test these in biological systems specific for each of these factors.
| Muenster, Uwe; Korupolu, Radhika; Rastogi, Ratindra et al. (2011) Antagonism of activin by activin chimeras. Vitam Horm 85:105-28 |
| Kim, Meejung; Choe, Senyon (2011) BMPs and their clinical potentials. BMB Rep 44:619-34 |
| Looyenga, Brendan D; Wiater, Ezra; Vale, Wylie et al. (2010) Inhibin-A antagonizes TGFbeta2 signaling by down-regulating cell surface expression of the TGFbeta coreceptor betaglycan. Mol Endocrinol 24:608-20 |
| Valera, Elvira; Isaacs, Michael J; Kawakami, Yasuhiko et al. (2010) BMP-2/6 heterodimer is more effective than BMP-2 or BMP-6 homodimers as inductor of differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. PLoS One 5:e11167 |
| Isaacs, Michael J; Kawakami, Yasuhiko; Allendorph, George P et al. (2010) Bone morphogenetic protein-2 and -6 heterodimer illustrates the nature of ligand-receptor assembly. Mol Endocrinol 24:1469-77 |
| Hassold, Terry; Hunt, Patricia (2009) Maternal age and chromosomally abnormal pregnancies: what we know and what we wish we knew. Curr Opin Pediatr 21:703-8 |
| Wiater, Ezra; Lewis, Kathy A; Donaldson, Cynthia et al. (2009) Endogenous betaglycan is essential for high-potency inhibin antagonism in gonadotropes. Mol Endocrinol 23:1033-42 |
| Cheng, Edith Y; Hunt, Patricia A; Naluai-Cecchini, Theresa A et al. (2009) Meiotic recombination in human oocytes. PLoS Genet 5:e1000661 |
| Ciarmela, Pasquapina; Wiater, Ezra; Smith, Sean M et al. (2009) Presence, actions, and regulation of myostatin in rat uterus and myometrial cells. Endocrinology 150:906-14 |
| Blount, Amy L; Vaughan, Joan M; Vale, Wylie W et al. (2008) A Smad-binding element in intron 1 participates in activin-dependent regulation of the follistatin gene. J Biol Chem 283:7016-26 |
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