Abstract

My laboratory investigates fundamental questions of cell division and size control during vertebrate development. We leverage frogs of the genus Xenopus that span in genome size from diploid (2N, Xenopus tropicalis) to dodecaploid (12N, Xenopus longipes) to investigate consequences of the conserved relationship between genome size and cell size on embryogenesis and explore the molecular basis and physiological consequences of scaling relationships. A unique feature of Xenopus systems is the ability to reconstitute assembly of the meiotic or mitotic spindle in vitro using cytoplasmic extracts. By combining cell biological, biochemical, and bioinformatic approaches in embryos and extract systems, we are currently investigating mechanisms of oocyte growth, the incidence of aneuploidy during embryogenesis, adaptation of the cell division machinery to increased ploidy, chromosome mis-segregation in inviable hybrids, and the cellular basis of metabolic scaling. Our studies aim to reveal fundamental principles of spindle assembly and biological size control, and the molecular basis of variation that contributes to genomic instability and evolution.