Regulation of asymmetic neuroblast division in C. elegans

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My lab is interesting in identifying and understanding the function of genes required for a specialized type of cell division called asymmetric cell division. Asymmetric cell division is defined simply as the process by which a mother cell divides to produce two daughter cells that become different (i.e. a skin cell and a gut cell). This process is essential in all multicellular organisms, including humans, to generate different cell types. However, we study this problem in a very simple model system, the small soil worm C. elegans. We use C. elegans because it is comprised of only 959 cells and because scientists have watched every cell division from the fertilized egg to the adult we know where every cell comes from. From this analysis, we know that there are exactly 302 nerve cells in the worm and they all arise from asymmetric cell divisions. My lab has identified two very exciting genes that control asymmetric cell divisions necessary to produce neurons. One of these genes is part of a pathway that allows cells to communicate with each other and this gene is part of a pathway that is also found in humans. In humans disruption of this pathway is contributes to many diseases including cancer. My lab is taking advantage of all the genetic and molecular experiments that can be done in the worm to identify new and novel genes that participate in this pathway. We also study a protein that is specifically localized to one side of a cell before division, and as a result, after division only becomes inherited by one of the two daughter cells. We are performing further experiments to determine how inheritance of this protein can make two daughter cells develop differently. Addressing this question has implications for every organism that is comprised of more than one cell type.