Tavernarakis NN et al. (1999) Trends in Biochemical Sciences "The SPFH domain: implicated in regulating targeted protein turnover in stomatins and other membrane-associated proteins."

Driscoll MA, Tavernarakis NN, Kyrpides NC

[Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 1999]

Stromatin, also known as band 7.2b protein, is one of the major integral membrane proteins of human erythrocytes. This protein is apparently absent in the red cell membranes of patients suffering form overhydrated hereditary stomatocytosis, a form of autosomal dominant hemolytic anemia. Although he protein is missing, no mutations have been found within the stomatin gene in patients with this condition. However, an aberrant splice mutation associated with multi-system pathology early in life suggests that the protein is crucial for development (A. Argent, J. Delaunay and G. Stewart, pers. commun.). the genome of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans encodes nine stomatin-related genes, three of which have been genetically characterized. MEC-2 is a protein expressed predominantly in six touch-receptor neurons and plays an essential role in mechanotransduction, whereas UNC-24 is required for normal locomotion. UNC-1 also affects locomotion and is required for normal responsiveness to volatile anesthetics.

Davidson EH et al. (1999) J Exp Zool "Themes from a NASA workshop on gene regulatory processes in development and evolution."

Davidson EH, Ruvkun GB

[J Exp Zool, 1999]

A memorable workshop, focused on causal mechanisms in metazoan evolution and sponsored by NASA, was held in early June 1998, at MBL. The workshop was organized by Mike Levine and Eric H. Davidson, and it included the PI and associates from 12 different laboratories, a total of about 30 people. Each laboratory had about two and one half hours in which to represent its recent research and cast up its current ideas for an often intense discussion. In the following we have tried to enunciate some of the major themes that emerged, and to reflect on their implications. The opinions voiced are our own. We would like to tender apologies over those contributions we have not been able to include, but this is not, strictly speaking, a meeting review. Rather we have focused on those topics that bear more directly on evolutionary mechanisms, and have therefore slighted some presentations (including some of our own), that were oriented mainly toward developmental processes. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol. ) 285:104-115, 1999.