There are two very different projects ongoing in the Herman laboratory.
The first concerns the control of cell polarity in developing systems using the nematode, C. elegans as a model. We are studying cell polarity in the free-living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans because it has a small number of cells, all of which can be seen in the light microscope, and is amenable to genetic analysis. The overall goal of this project is to understand how cell polarity is generated and maintained during animal development. Our approach is to identify and study genes involved in the control of cell polarity by identifying mutations that disrupt the polarities of individual cells. Much of our work has focused on the role Wnt signaling pathways play in the control of cell polarity.
The second project is very different and aims to link responses of living systems to environmental change at the genetic level. The question is, which genes are most important for how organisms respond to the environment. Our approach is to implement projects that meld the disciplines of genetics and ecology in the relatively new discipline of Ecological Genomics. The Herman Lab is part of a multidisciplinary group that is investigating the genetic basis for the changes in nematode species composition in response to environmental cues. The long-term goal of this project is to discover which genes are induced or repressed in response to variations in resource availability.
Ungerer, M.C., L.C. Johnson, and M.A. Herman. 2008. Ecological genomics: understanding gene functions in the natural environment. Heredity 100(2):178-83.
Arata, Y., H. Kouike, Y. Zhang, M.A. Herman, H. Okano, and H. Sawa. 2006. The Wnt signal and Hox cooperate to express PSA-3/Meis, which determines specific daughter fates after asymmetric division in C. elegans. Dev Cell 11: 105-115.
Herman, M.A. 2006. Hermaphrodite cell fate specification. (January 09, 2006). In WormBook, ed. The C. elegans Research Community, Wormbook,doi/10.1895/wormbook.1.39.1, http://www.wormbook.org.
Jones, K.L., T.C. Todd, J.D. Coolon, J.M. Blair, and M.A. Herman. 2006. Molecular approach for assessing responses of microbial-feeding nematodes to burning and chronic nitrogen enrichment in a native grassland. Mol. Ecol. 15: 2601-2609.
Jones, K.L., T.C Todd, and M.A. Herman. 2006. Development of taxon-specific markers for high-throughput screening of microbial-feeding nematodes. Molecular Ecology Notes 6: 712-714 .
Walston, T., C. Guo, R. Proenca, M. Wu, M. Herman, J. Hardin, and E. Hedgecock. 2006. mig-5/Dsh controls cell fate determination and cell migration in C. elegans. Dev. Biol 298: 485-497.
Wu, M. and M.A. Herman. 2006. A novel noncanonical Wnt pathway is involved in the regulation fo the asymmetric B cell division in C. elegans. Dev. Biol 293: 316-329.
Wu, M. and M.A. Herman. 2006. Asymmetric localization of LIN-17/Fz and MIG-5/Dsh are required for the the asymmetric B cell division in C. elegans. Submitted.
Van Hoffelen, S. and M.A. Herman. 2006. Stem Cells: Specifying stem cell niches in the worm. Curr. Biol. 16: R175-177.
Herman, M.A. and M. Wu. 2004. Noncanonical Wnt signaling pathways in C. elegans converge on POP-1/Tcf and control cell polarity. Frontiers in Bioscience 9: 1530-1539.
Hoeppner, D., M.S. Spector, T.R. Ratliff, J.M. Kinchen, S. Granat, S.-C. Lin, S.S. Bhusri, B.Conradt, M.A. Herman, and M.O. Hengartner. 2004. eor-1 and eor-2 are required for cell-specific apoptotic death in C. elegans. Dev. Biol 274: 125-138.
Herman, M.A. 2003. Wnt signaling in C. elegans. In Wnt signaling in Development, M. Kühl, Editor. Landes Biosciences: Georgetown, TX, USA, pp.187-212.
Zhao, X, H. Sawa, and M.A. Herman. 2003. tcl-2 encodes a novel protein that acts synergistically with the Wnt signaling pathway in C. elegans. Dev. Biol. 256: 276-289.
Herman, M.A. 2002. Control of cell polarity by noncanonical Wnt signaling in C. elegans. Semin. Cell Dev. Biol. 13: 233-241.
Zhao, X., Y. Yang, D.H.A. Fitch, and M.A. Herman. 2002. TLP-1 is an asymmetric cell fate determinant that responds to Wnt signals and controls male tail tip morphogenesis in C. elegans. Development 129: 1497-1508.
Herman, M.A. 2001. C. elegans POP-1/TCF functions in a canonical Wnt pathway that controls cell migration and a noncanonical Wnt pathway that controls cell polarity. Development 128: 581-590.
Korswagen, H.C., M.A. Herman, and H.C. Clevers. 2000. Distinct beta-catenins mediate adhesion and signalling functions in C. elegans. Nature 406: 527-532.
Herman, M.A., Q. Ch'ng, S.M. Hettenbach, T.M. Ratliff, C. Kenyon, and R.K. Herman. 1999. EGL-27 is similar to a metastasis-associated factor and controls cell polarity and cell migration in C. elegans. Development 126: 1055-1064.
Herman, M.A., L.L. Vassilieva, H.R. Horvitz, J.E. Shaw, and R.K. Herman. 1995. The C. elegans gene lin-44, which controls the polarity of certain asymmetric cell divisions, encodes a Wnt protein and acts cell nonautonomously. Cell 83: 101-110.
Herman, M.A. and H.R. Horvitz. 1994. The Caenorhabditis elegans gene lin-44 controls the polarity of asymmetric cell divisions. Development 120: 1035-1047.
