
Sujan Gautam, M.Sc.
Research Project: Wnt1/8-Fzl5/8-JNK-ATF2 signaling and the gene regulatory network essential for anterior-posterior specification and patterning in the sea urchin embryo
Early embryonic axis specification and patterning is the crucial event of metazoan embryos. Our lab has focused on the mechanism of axes patterning, in particular, how signaling pathways regulate gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that specify and pattern the embryonic territories along the main axes of developing embryos. We have also focused on how crosstalk exists between signaling pathways during the establishment of the germ territories along the major axes. To this end, our lab has shown the existence of an integrated Wnt signaling network of three Wnt pathways (Wnt/β-catenin, Wnt/JNK, and Wnt/PKC pathways) in ANE restriction process.
My research focuses on the characterization of a non-canonical Wnt/JNK signaling pathway that plays a poorly defined but exceptional role in positioning ANE at the anterior cells in sea urchin embryos. To point out, my ongoing projects aimed at understanding GRNs that are activated downstream of Fzl5/8-JNK during the germ patterning of germ layers along the AP axis of sea urchin embryos. To my knowledge, my ongoing project will be the pioneering work for understanding downstream factors of the Fzl5/8-JNK signaling pathway during the early axis specification and patterning of metazoan embryos.

Developmental Biology of the Sea urchin XXV meeting (2018) , MBL, Woods Hole, MA

Developmental Biology of the Sea urchin XXV meeting (2018) , MBL, Woods Hole, MA
PUBLICATIONS
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2021
C Ka, S Gautam, SR Marshall, LP Tice, M Martinez-Bartolome, JL Fenner, RC Range. Receptor Tyrosine Kinases ror1/2 and ryk Are Co-expressed with Multiple Wnt Signaling Components During Early Development of Sea Urchin Embryos. The Biological Bulletin (2021).
2019
Erkenbrack, E. M., Croce. J., Miranda, E., Gautam, S., Martínez-Bartolomé, M., Yaguchi, S., Range, R. C. “Whole mount in situ hybridization techniques for analysis of the spatial distribution of mRNAs in sea urchin embryos and early larvae”. Book Chapter. Methods in Cell Biology (2019).