Presentation
Organizer: IRB BioMed Seminars
Date: Wednesday, 13th March at 15:00 - Extraordinary BioMed Seminar
Place: Fèlix Serratosa
Speaker: Paul Conduit, PhD.
Group Leader - Microtubule regulation in multi-cellular animals Lab - Institut Jacques Monod, France.
More information: https://www.ijm.fr/research-topics/conduit-lab-va/?lang=en#1645024942777-40515b85-946b
Title: "Regulating microtubule nucleation in neurons to control cell growth and polarity"
Host: Jens Lüders, PhD - Group Leader - Microtubule organization in cell proliferation and differentiation LAB - IRB Barcelona - Mechanisms of Disease Programme
Abstract:
My team aims to understand how microtubule nucleation is regulated across different cell types. The spatiotemporal control of microtubule nucleation allows cells to establish specialised microtubule networks that are necessary for a particular function, such as separating chromosomes during mitosis or resisting compression during muscle contraction. Neurons are of great interest to us, as they must generate and maintain extended microtubule networks that differ in polarity between axons (plus-end-out) and dendrites (mixed or minus-end-out). This polarity difference enables the correct trafficking of cargo into the different compartments and is therefore important for axon and dendrite identity and function. Microtubules are also important for neurite growth, as they stabilise growth cones and support actin-dependent nascent neurite extensions. In this talk, I will present our work using Drosophila dendritic arborisation (da) neurons as an in vivo model system. I will reveal how asymmetric microtubule nucleation within the soma is important to maintain minus-end-out microtubule polarity in proximal dendrites, a mechanism likely conserved between different types of neurons. I will also show, however, that microtubule nucleation within dendrites is differentially regulated between different classes of da neurons to help establish class-specific dendritic arbor morphologies.
IRB BioMed Seminars
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