Berl Oakley

Focus

Mitosis and the Microtubule Cytoskeleton

Research interests

My major research interest is the microtubule cytoskeleton, which is essential for mitosis, meiosis, the maintenance of cell shape and many forms of motility. My lab is using a combination of genetic, molecular genetic, morphological and biochemical techniques to study these phenomena in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans and in other organisms.

Our most notable discovery has been gamma tubulin, a protein that is related to the major microtubule proteins alpha and beta tubulin. Gamma tubulin is present in all eukaryotes and is located at microtubule organizing centers. We have demonstrated that gamma tubulin is essential for viability and plays a central role in the nucleation of microtubule spindle microtubules. We are currently investigating other aspects of gamma tubulin function including the role of gamma tubulin in mitotic progression and in regulating microtubule dynamics.

 

 

 

 

 

Oakley Lab Members:

Postdoctoral Researcher: Edyta Szewczyk
Research Staff: C. Elizabeth Oakley, Amanda Lewis
Graduate Student: Tania Nayak

 

Publications

• Oakley, B. R. Tubulins in Aspergillus nidulans. Fungal Genet. Biol. 41, 420-427 (special issue to honor Dr. N.R. Morris).
• Su, W., Li, S., Oakley, B.R. and Xiang, X.. Life cell dual-color imaging of nuclear division and mitotic spindle elongation in Aspergillus nidulans. Eukaryotic Cell 3, 553-556.
• Prigozhina, N.L., Oakley, C.E., Lewis, A.M., Nayak, T., Osmani , S.A. and Oakley, B.R.. g -Tubulin plays an essential role in the coordination of mitotic events. Mol. Biol. Cell 15, 1374-1386.
• Horio, T. and Oakley, B.R.. Expression of Arabidopsis thaliana g -tubulin in fission yeast reveals conserved and novel functions of g --tubulin. Plant Physiol. 133, 1926-1934.
• Job, D., Valiron, O., Oakley, B. Microtubule nucleation. Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 15, 111-117.
• Osmani, A.H., Davies, J., Oakley, C.E., Oakley , BR. and Osmani , S.A.. TINA interacts with the NIMA kinase in Aspergillus nidulans and negatively regulates astral mcirotubules during metaphase arrest. Mol. Biol. Cell 14, 3169-3179.
• Ovechkina, Y., Maddox, P., Oakley, C.E., Xiang, X., Osmani, S., Salmon, E.D. and Oakley, B.R.. Spindle formation in Aspergillus is coupled to tubulin movement into the nucleus. Mol. Biol. Cell 14, 2192-2200.
• Straube, A., Brill, M., Oakley, B.R., Horio, T., and Steinberg, G.. Microtubule organization requires cell-cycle dependent nucleation at dispersed cytoplasmic sites, polar and perinuclear MTOCs in the plant pathogen Ustilago maydis. Mol. Biol. Cell 14, 642-657.