Todd Slaby - Graduate Student
131 Koshland Hall
(510) 643-5583
slaby@berkeley.edu
Mailing Address:
University of California Berkeley
16 Barker Hall, MC 3204
Berkeley, CA 94720-3204
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Todd Slaby - Graduate Student 131 Koshland Hall Mailing Address: |
| Research Summary |
| In flies, worms, and humans, sex is determined by the activity of a master switch gene. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the master switch is xol-1, a GHMP kinase-like protein with no obvious enzymatic activity. XOL-1 expression is regulated transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally by the dose-dependent, cumulative action of multiple X signal elements (XSE) and Autosomal signal elements (ASE). The ratio of XSE and ASE doses is called the X:A ratio. The 1:2 ratio in XO animals allows xol-1 to be "on" to dictate the male fate, while the 1:1 ratio in XX animals turns xol-1 "off" to establish the hermaphrodite fate. XX animals also activate dosage compensation (DC), the equalization of X-linked gene expression between sexes that differ in the dose of sex chromosomes.
My primary interest in the Meyer Lab is elucidating how XOL-1 prevents the assembly of the dosage compensation complex on the male single X chromosome. Despite its genetic placement high in the sex determination hierarchy, nothing is known about the means by which XOL-1 achieves its ends. Other GHMP kinase-like folds have been shown to fall into two classes: metabolic small molecule kinases and non-enzymatic transcriptional regulators. I am undertaking multiple genetic, biochemical, and cell-biological approaches to determine whether XOL-1 falls into either of these two classes or represents a novel function for the GHMP kinase-like fold. Through this multi-pronged approach I hope determine the mechanism by which XOL-1 determines cell fate in the nematode. |
| Publications/Presentations |
| Stanyon R, Bigoni F, Slaby T, Muller S, Stone G, Bonvicino CR, Neusser M, Seuanez HN (2004): Multi-directional chromosome painting maps homologies between species belonging to three genera of New World monkeys and humans. Chromosoma 113(6): 301-315. |
| Education |
| 2000 - 2003 University of Chicago A.B., Biological Sciences |