Yuh-Nung Jan, PhD
We are interested in the basic mechanisms of neural development. Our strategy is to use the relatively simple Drosophila peripheral nervous system (PNS) to discover the genetic program that controls its development. In doing so, we hope to uncover evolutionarily conserved core programs that control different steps of neural development in animals. We started with the earliest steps in neural development (neurogenesis and neuronal cell fate specification) and gradually worked our way toward later steps (neuronal morphogenesis and the assembly of a functional neuronal circuit). Some highlights of our earlier efforts include the finding of atonal and numb: atonal is the founding member of a family of proneural genes that initiate the development of two major types of sensory neurons used in vision and hearing; numb functions as a cell fate determinant during asymmetric cell division. Numb provided a starting point for the study of asymmetric cell division in Drosophila and vertebrates, which led to insights into the molecular basis of asymmetric cell division. While we have continued with these studies in the context of stem cell self-renewal and maintenance, in recent years the major focus of our lab has been the study of dendrite development and functional neuronal circuit assembly.
Selected Publications
Jarman, A.P., Grau, Y., Jan, L.Y., and Jan, Y.N. (1993). atonal is a proneural gene for chordotonal organs in the Drosophila peripheral nervous system. Cell 73:1307-1321.
Rhyu, M.S., Jan, L.Y., and Jan, Y.N. (1994). Asymmetric distribution of numb protein during division of the Sensory Organ Precursor cell confers distinct fates to daughter cells. Cell 76:477-491.
Emoto, K., Parrish, J.Z., Jan, L.Y., and Jan, Y.N. (2006). The tumour suppressor Hippo acts with the NDR kinases in dendritic tiling and maintenance. Nature 443:210-213.
Kuo, C.T., Mirzadeh, Z., Soriano-Navarro, M., Rasin, M., Wang, D., Shen, J., Sestan, N., Garcia-Verdugo, J., Alvarez-Buylla, A., Jan, L.Y., and Jan, Y.N. (2006). Postnatal deletion of Numb/Numblike reveals repair and remodeling capacity in the subventricular neurogenic niche. Cell 127:1253-1264. PMCID: PMC1876765.
Ye, B., Zhang, Y., Song, W., Younger, S.H., Jan, L.Y., and Jan, Y.N. (2007). Growing dendrites and axons differ in their reliance on the secretory pathway. Cell 130:717-729. PMCID: PMC2020851.