How does cell morphology and behavior evolve and diversify across phyla?
We combine microscopy, comparative genomics, and phylogenetics, using both established and new model organisms, to provide comprehensive and coherent answers to this fundamental question.
Cells use the cytoskeleton to convert intracellular and extracellular signals into mechanical responses including cell motility, morphogenesis, and the modulation of intracellular pressure. These responses rely on the biophysical properties of two cytoskeletal polymers: microtubules that are stiff tubes that readily depolymerize and actin filaments that are flexible and inherently stable. Although the polymers at the heart of cytoskeletal networks—actin and tubulin—are highly conserved, the networks they build vary wildly both within individual cells and between cell types. Small changes in single cytoskeletal regulators can alter the emergent behaviors of cytoskeletal networks, whole cells, and even multicellular tissues and organisms. We combine cell biology, comparative genomics, and phylogenetics to understand the evolution, diversification, and regulation of actin and microtubule networks. This research program harnesses the burgeoning wealth of fully sequenced genomes and molecular tool development to (1) identify the molecular mechanisms that specify distinct cytoskeletal functions, (2) determine how and when the cytoskeleton changed during evolution, and (3) explore how cytoskeletal evolution drives phenotypic diversification.