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Return to: College of Biological Sciences: Medical School: U of M Home |
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Areas of Research Strength: Regulation of Gene Expression Developmental mechanisms C. elegans developmental genetics back to top |
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Research Techniques: C. elegans genetics, including mosaic analysis back to top |
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Research Interests: The long-term goal of work in R. K. Herman's laboratory is to elucidate the genetic basis of animal development and behavior. The small soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is used as a model organism because of its relative cellular simplicity and suitability for genetic analysis. The animal consists of only 959 somatic cells (in the hermaphrodite, 1031 in the male), and both its development and anatomy are largely invariant. The complete cell lineage of the wild-type animal is known, and the nervous system has been completely reconstructed from serial section electron micrographs. The hundreds of genes affecting the many aspects of development and behavior that have been identified and mapped testify to the organism's advantages for genetic manipulation. C. elegans is also a model for genome sequencing, and at least a third of its genes have human homologs. back to top |
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Selected Publications: Yochem, J., and R. K. Herman (2005) Genetic mosaics. WormBook, ed. The C. elegans Research Community, WormBook, http://wormbook.org. Herman, R. K. and J. Yochem (2005) Genetic enhancers. WormBook, ed. The C. elegansResearch Community, WormBook, http://wormbook.org. Yochem, J., D.H. Hall, L.R. Bell, E.M. Hedgecock and R.K. Herman (2005) Isopentenyldiphosphate isomerase is essential for viability of Caenorhabditis elegans. Mol. Genet. & Genomics 273: 158-166. Yochem, J., L. R. Bell and R. K. Herman (2004) The identities of sym-2, sym-3 and sym-4, three genes that are synthetically lethal with mec-8 in Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 168: 1293-1306. Spartz, A. K., R. K. Herman and J. E. Shaw (2004) SMU-2 and SMU-1, Caenorhabditis elegans homologs of mammalian spliceosome-associated proteins RED and fSAP57, work together to affect splice site choice. Mol. Cell. Biol. 24: 6811-6823. Herman, R. K. (2004) The tale behind the worm. Book Review. Science 303: 42. Yochem, J., and R. K. Herman (2003) Investigating C. elegans development through mosaic analysis. Development 130: 4761-4768. Spike, C. A., A. G. Davies, J. E. Shaw and R. K. Herman (2002) MEC-8 regulates alternative splicing of unc-52 transcripts in C. elegans hypodermal cells. Development 129: 4999-5008. Spike, C. A., J. E. Shaw and R. K. Herman (2001) Analysis of smu-1, a gene that regulates the alternative splicing of unc-52 pre-mRNA in Caenorhabditis elegans. Mol. Cell. Biol. 21: 4985-4995. Davies, A. G., C.A. Spike, J.E. Shaw and R. K. Herman (1999) Functional overlap between mec-8 and five sym genes in Genetics 153: 177-134. Collet, J., C. A. Spike, E. A. Lundquist, J. E. Shaw and R. K. Herman (1998) Analysis of osm-6, a gene that affects sensory cilium structure and sensory neuron function in Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 148: 187-200. To view these and other publications visit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed search menu should say PubMed type Herman RK in the avaliable line back to top |
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