Linda Huang

Department of Biology University of Massachusetts-Boston 100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston, MA 02125 Phone: (617) 287-6674 Fax: (617) 287-6650 E-mail: linda.huang@umb.edu

Education

1986-1987 Education Abroad Program, University of Sussex, England
1988 B.S. (Biology), University of California, Los Angeles
1995 Ph.D. (Biology), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

Current Position

Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts Boston

Research Interests

My research focuses on how cells regulate their morphology during development. The work in my laboratory seeks to understand the complex morphological changes that occur during sporulation in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. During sporulation, four spores are formed de novo within the original cell, each spore housing one of the four meiotic products. A highly organized four-layered spore wall surrounds each of the four spores. The events of spore morphogenesis control the appropriate formation of these spores. We are using genetics, cell biology, molecular biology, and biochemistry to study the signal transduction processes that govern spore morphogenesis.

Current work in the lab focuses on how a signal transduction pathway involving the MAP kinase SMK1 regulates spore morphogenesis. Through biochemical purification, we have identified several proteins that physically interact with Smk1p, including Gsc2p, a subunit of beta-glucan synthase which plays an important role in spore wall synthesis. Through genetic and biochemical experiments we have found that Smk1p negatively regulates beta-glucan synthase activity, suggesting a direct link between Smk1p function and cell morphogenesis. We are currently investigating how Gsc2p and other Smk1p-interacting proteins contribute to Smk1p's ability to coordinate the orderly assembly of the spore wall.

Publications

K.L. Auld, A.L. Hitchcock, H.K. Doherty, S. Frietze, L.S. Huang, and P.A. Silver (2006) The conserved ATPase Get3/Arr4 modulates the activity of membrane-associated proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics, 174: 215:227.

L.S. Huang and P.W. Sternberg (2006) Genetic dissection of developmental pathways, WormBook, ed. The C. elegans Research Community, doi/10.1895/wormbook.1.88.1, http://www.wormbook.org

L.S. Huang, H. K. Doherty, and I. Herskowitz (2005) The Smk1p MAP kinase negatively regulates Gsc2p, a 1, 3-beta-glucan synthase, during spore wall morphogenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102: 12431-12436.

K.R. Benjamin and L.S. Huang (2004) Testbank for Essential Cell Biology, ed. 2. Garland Sciences (New York).

M. Blondel, P.M. Alepuz, L.S. Huang, S. Shaham, G. Ammerer, and M. Peter (1999) Nuclear export of Far1p in response to pheromones requires the export receptor Msn5p/Ste21p. Genes Dev. 13: 2284-2300.

A. Kaffman, N.M. Rank, E.M. O'Neill, L.S. Huang, and E.K. O'Shea (1998) The receptor Msn5 exports the phosphorylated transcription factor Pho4 out of the nucleus. Nature 396: 482-486.

A.-C. Butty, P.M. Pryciak, L.S. Huang, I. Herskowitz, and M. Peter (1998) The role of Far1p in linking the heterotrimeric G protein to polarity establishment proteins during yeast mating. Science 282: 1511-1516.

L.S. Huang and P.W. Sternberg (1995) Genetic dissection of regulatory pathways. In Methods in Cell Biology, C. elegans: modern biological analysis of an organism. Editors: H.F. Epstein and D.C. Shakes. San Diego: Academic Press, 48: 97-122.

P.W. Sternberg, G. Lesa, J. Lee, W.S. Katz, C. Yoon, T.R. Clandinin, L.S. Huang, H.M. Chamberlin, and G. Jongeward (1995) LET-23-mediated signal transduction during Caenorhabditis elegans development. Molecular Reproduction and Development 42: 523-528.

L.S. Huang, P. Tzou, and P.W. Sternberg (1994) The lin-15 locus encodes two negative regulators of C. elegans vulval development. Molecular Biology of the Cell 5: 395-412.

P.W. Sternberg, C.H. Yoon, J. Lee, G.D. Jongeward, P.S. Kayne, W.S. Katz, G. Lesa, J. Liu, A. Golden, L.S. Huang, and H.M. Chamberlin (1994) Molecular genetics of proto-oncogenes and candidate tumor suppresors in C. elegans. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 59: 155-63.

P.W. Sternberg, R.J. Hill, G. Jongeward, L.S. Huang, and L. Carta (1992) Intercellular signalling during C. elegans vulval induction. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 57: 353-362.