Michael O'Connor, University of Minnesota

Title: TGF beta control of Drosophila physiology, metabolism and body size

Abstract: The TGF-beta superfamily comprises the largest set of polypeptide growth and differentiation factors found in nature, and they regulate a plethora of important biological processes in all animals. An unanswered question in the field is why their exists such a diversity in ligands that signal through a much smaller set of related receptors and signal transduction components. We have been addressing this question through the study of four Drosophila activin-like ligands and their roles in regulating metabolism and body size, and aging. We find that these different activin-like ligands, achieve tissue-specific responses, through differential interactions with different Type I receptor isoforms that likely involve intricate agonist-antagonist relationships. We speculate that this provides a homeostatic control mechanism to adjust physiological parameters in response to various environmental factors to provide maximum organismal fitness. These studies also begin to provide insight into how a responding tissue can decode a complex mixture of related extracellular growth factor signals into a unique regulatory output.

Refreshments will be served in the Molecular Biology Building Atrium at 3:45 p.m.

Host: Hua Bai