Marian L. Waterman
Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
Phone: (949) 824-2885
Email: mlwaterm@uci.edu
http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/microbio/
http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=2406
Marian Waterman
The goal of the research program in the Waterman laboratory is to understand how a developmental signaling pathway triggered by extracellular Wnt ligands specifies changes in transcription of target genes. Dysfunctional Wnt signals can cause cancer, and it is this unfortunate aspect that continues to be the focus of their work. They have uncovered differences in the structure and activities of the LEF/TCF transcription factors that mediate Wnt signals. They have also uncovered aberrant expression and subcellular trafficking of some of these factors in cancers - particularly colon cancer and breast cancer. Two major aspects of these findings comprise current work. First, they are studying the underlying mechanisms of transcription regulation that make LEF/TCFs function non-redundantly, and they are testing whether these differences are relevant to cancer progression. Second, they are defining the regulatory mechanisms at the transcriptional and translation level that cause aberrant expression of LEF-1 in cancer.
Selected Publications:
Hovanes, K., Li, T. W., Munguia, J. E., Truong, T., Milovanovic, T., Lawrence Marsh, J., Holcombe, R. F., and Waterman, M. L. (2001). Beta-catenin-sensitive isoforms of lymphoid enhancer factor-1 are selectively expressed in colon cancer. Nat Genet 28(1), 53-7.
Jimenez, J., Jang, G. M., Semler, B. L., and Waterman, M. L. (2005). An internal ribosome entry site mediates translation of lymphoid enhancer factor-1. Rna 11(9), 1385-99.
Li, T. W., Ting, J. H., Yokoyama, N. N., Bernstein, A., van de Wetering, M., and Waterman, M. L. (2006). Wnt activation and alternative promoter repression of LEF1 in colon cancer. Mol Cell Biol 26(14), 5284-99.
Atcha, F. A., Syed, A., Wu, B., Hoverter, N. P., Yokoyama, N. N., Ting, J. H., Munguia, J. E., Mangalam, H. J., Marsh, J. L., and Waterman, M. L. (2007). A unique DNA binding domain converts T-cell factors into strong Wnt effectors. Mol Cell Biol 27(23), 8352-63.
Yang, M., Waterman, M. L., and Brachmann, R. K. (2008). hADA2a and hADA3 are required for acetylation, transcriptional activity and proliferative effects of beta-catenin. Cancer Biol Ther 7(1), 122-30. |
