projects

Genetic analysis of cyclin regulatory networks (ongoing)

Faculty Profile

Professor
aa1523@wayne.edu

Phone

313-577-7845

Education

Ph.D., 1990, SUNY Upstate Medical University
Postdoctoral Fellow, 1990-1995, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital

Laboratory Web Site

Office Location

3212 Scott Hall

Research Focus

Our research is broadly aimed at understanding how regulatory networks control biological processes, such as the cell division cycle. We identify and characterize networks of interacting genes and proteins using high throughput technologies, including the yeast two-hybrid system and RNAi screens. The interaction maps that we generate from these studies form the foundation for discovering and understanding cellular regulatory pathways. A second theme of our research is directed at understanding the molecular mechanisms that control cell division. For these studies, we are using the genetically tractable model organism, Drosophila (the fruit fly) to study gene networks centered on two novel conserved cyclin proteins (named Cyclin Y and Cyclin J). Cyclin proteins are regulators of cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks), which are highly conserved S/T protein kinases that control the cell division cycle in all eukaryotes.

Publications

Atikukke*, G., Albosta*, P., Zhang, H., and Finley, Jr., R.L., A role for Drosophila Cyclin J in oogenesis revealed by genetic interactions with the piRNA pathway. Mechanisms of Development 133:64-76, 2014. [PMID: 24946235]
Murali, T., Pacifico, S., and Finley, Jr., R.L. Integrating the interactome and the transcriptome of Drosophila. BMC Bioinformatics, 15:177. 2014. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2105-15-177. [PMID: 24913703]
Mairiang D, Zhang H, Sodja A, Murali T, Suriyaphol P, Malasit P, Limjindaporn T, Finley RL Jr. Identification of new protein interactions between dengue fever virus and its hosts, human and mosquito. PLoS One.
2013;8(1):e53535. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053535. Epub 2013 Jan 11. [PubMed PMID: 23326450; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3543448.]
Yu J, Murali T, Finley RL Jr. Assigning confidence scores to protein-protein interactions. Methods Mol Biol. 2012;812:161-74. doi: 10.1007/978-1-61779-455-1_9. PubMed PMID: 22218859.
Guest, S.T., Yu, J., Liu, D., Hines, J.A., Kashat, M.A., and Finley, Jr., R.L. A protein network-guided screen for cell cycle regulators in Drosophila. BMC Systems Biology 5:65, 1-16, 2011. [PMID: 21548953] (PMCID: PMC3113730)
Murali*, T., Pacifico, S., Yu, J., Guest, S., Roberts, G.G., and Finley, Jr., R.L. DroID 2011: A comprehensive, integrated resource for protein, transcription factor, RNA, and gene interactions for Drosophila. Nucleic Acids Research, D736-743, 29 Jan 2011. [PMID: 21036869] (PMCID: PMC3013689)
Liu*, D., and Finley, Jr., R.L. Cyclin Y is a novel conserved cyclin essential for development in Drosophila. Genetics, 184: 1025-1035, 2010. [PMID: 20100936] (PMCID: PMC2865905)
Schwartz, A.S., Yu, J., Gardenour, K.R., Finley, Jr., R.L., and Ideker, T. Cost effective strategies for mapping the interactome. Nature Methods, 6: 55-61, 2009. (PMCID: PMC2613168)

Research Description

Research in our laboratory follows two main themes. One is directed at understanding how regulatory networks control biological processes. Our approach is to identify and characterize networks of interacting genes or proteins using high throughput technologies, including the yeast two-hybrid system, and more recently, RNAi knockdown assays. Projects underway include mapping the binary interactions among the 14,000 Drosophila proteins and defining genetic interactions by RNAi knockdown. The interaction maps that we generate from these studies provide a framework for understanding cellular regulatory pathways. A second theme of our research is directed at understanding the molecular mechanisms that control cell division. For these studies we are using the genetically tractable model organism, Drosophila (the fruit fly). Our long-standing approach has been to identify putative new cell cycle regulatory proteins and then use a variety of molecular and genetic approaches to study them. Initially, for example, we identified new cell cycle regulators by elaborating a network of interacting proteins centered on Cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks). These highly conserved S/T protein kinases are well-known regulators of critical transitions in the cell division cycle of all eukaryotes. We are now studying other members of these networks, focusing in particular on proteins that appear to be highly conserved from Drosophila to humans. For more information go to www.proteome.wayne.edu.

Russell Finley