James Mahaffey
Bio
My research objective is to understand the genetic control of body patterning in animals. A conserved group of genes encoding homeodomain-class transcription factors (the hox genes) is responsible for establishing the anterior-posterior body pattern of most if not all animals. The encoded proteins specify regional identity by selectively activating necessary battery of “target” genes to establish segment-specific cell fates. However, since the proteins encoded by each hox gene have similar DNA recognition and binding properties, it is not clear how these proteins lead to very specific target gene activation and developmental fates. Clearly, the Hox proteins do not function alone but in concert with other factors.
Publications
- New Components of Drosophila Leg Development Identified through Genome Wide Association Studies , PLOS ONE (2013)
- The evolving role of the orphan nuclear receptor ftz-f1, a pair-rule segmentation gene , EVOLUTION & DEVELOPMENT (2013)
- Inference on treatment effects from a randomized clinical trial in the presence of premature treatment discontinuation: the SYNERGY trial , BIOSTATISTICS (2011)
- Genomic Consequences of Background Effects on scalloped Mutant Expressivity in the Wing of Drosophila melanogaster , GENETICS (2009)
- The drosophila gap gene giant has an anterior segment identity function mediated through disconnected and teashirt , GENETICS (2008)
- The appendage role of insect disco genes and possible implications on the evolution of the maggot larval form , DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY (2007)
- Imaginal Discs, the Genetic and Cellular Logic of Pattern Formation. Lewis I Held, Jr. Cambridge University Press. 2005. 461 pages. ISBN 0 521 01835 8. Price £38. (paperback). (ISBN 0521 58445 0. Price £120. (hardback) published 2002) , Genetical Research (2006)
- Assisting Hox proteins in controlling body form: are there new lessons from flies (and mammals)? , CURRENT OPINION IN GENETICS & DEVELOPMENT (2005)
- An interactive network of zinc-finger proteins contributes to regionalization of the Drosophila embryo and establishes the domains of HOM-C protein function , DEVELOPMENT (2004)
- Expression of the Drosophila gene disconnected using the UAS/GAL4 system , GENESIS (2002)