Audrey Gasch | UW Laboratory of Genetics
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Audrey Gasch










Associate Professor of Genetics


Ph.D. (2000) Stanford University
Postdoctoral Research: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/University of California, Berkeley, 2000-2003



Address: 3426 Genetics/Biotech
Telephone: 265-0859
E-mail: agasch@wisc.edu

Research Interests:

The role, regulation, and evolution of fungal genomic expression responses to stress

Research Fields:

Gene Expression
Genomics
Population/Evolution

Research Description:

All organisms must be able to sense and respond to their environment and defend themselves against environmental stress. We previously used DNA microarrays to examine the yeast response to environmental stresses and identified a large gene expression program, called the environmental stress response (ESR), that is activated by many types of stress. The ESR consists of ~1000 gene expression changes that include ~600 repressed genes and ~350 induced genes. We are combining functional genomics and computational biology with traditional techniques in genetics and biochemistry to understand the role, regulation, and evolution of this response. 

The ESR is triggered by diverse types of stress, however the regulation of this program is condition-specific and governed by many different transcription factors, RNA binding proteins, and upstream signaling pathways depending on the conditions. We are taking an integrated approach to elucidate the signal transduction network that governs this response. In addition to learning how the ESR is coordinated, we are using this system to decipher rules of signal transduction and transcriptional regulation in a model eukaryote. 

We are also exploring the mechanisms through which gene expression regulation evolves. Using comparative genomic approaches, we are examining the variation in stress-triggered gene expression changes within and between species in the Ascomycete clade. This information, coupled with genomic comparisons of the more than 100 fungal genomes currently available, is being used to develop models for how cis-regulation and signal transduction evolve and how environmental interactions contribute to evolution.

Representative Publications:

Wohlbach DJ, Kuo A, Sato TK, Potts KM, Salamov AA, Labutti KM, Sun H, Clum A, Pangilinan JL, Lindquist EA, Lucas S, Lapidus A, Jin M, Gunawan C, Balan V, Dale BE, Jeffries TW, Zinkel R, Barry KW, Grigoriev IV, Gasch AP. 2011.  Comparative genomics of xylose-fermenting fungi for enhanced biofuel production.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Aug 9;108(32):13212-7.

Lee MV, Topper SE, Hubler SL, Hose J, Wenger CD, Coon JJ, Gasch AP. 2011.  A dynamic model of proteome changes reveals new roles for transcript alteration in yeast.  Mol Syst Biol. 2011 Jul 19;7:514. doi: 10.1038/msb.2011.48.

Will JL, Kim HS, Clarke J, Painter JC, Fay JC, Gasch AP. 2010. Incipient balancing selection through adaptive loss of aquaporins in natural Saccharomyces cerevisiae populations. PLoS Genet. 2010 Apr 1;6(4):e1000893.
 
Kvitek DJ, Will JL, Gasch AP. 2008. Variations in stress sensitivity and genomic expression in diverse S. cerevisiae isolates. PLoS Genet. 2008 Oct;4(10):e1000223.

Berry DB, Gasch AP. 2008. Stress-activated genomic expression changes serve a preparative role for impending stress in yeast. Mol Biol Cell. 2008 Nov;19(11):4580-7.

Gasch, AP, Moses, AM, Chiang, DY, Fraser, HB, Berardini, M, and Eisen, MB. 2004. Conservation and evolution of cis-regulatory systems in Ascomycete fungi. PLoS Biology. 2(12):e398.

Gasch AP, Spellman PT, Kao CM, Carmel-Harel O, Eisen MB, Storz G, Botstein D, Brown, PO. 2000. Genomic expression programs in the response of yeast cells to environmental changes. Mol Biol Cell. 11(12):4241-57.