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Allen Laughon

Professor of Genetics and Medical Genetics

Allen Laughon
Address:
4262 Genetics/Biotech
Telephone:
262-2456
Email:
alaughon@wisc.edu
Research Fields:
Drosophila
Gene Expression

Ph.D., University of Utah, 1983

Postdoctoral Research: University of Colorado, Boulder

Research Interests

Regulatory mechanisms of TGF-beta signal transduction pathways

Research Description

We study mechanisms by which TGFbeta signaling pathways control pattern formation. The focus is on Smad proteins, transcription factors that shuttle from cytoplasm to nucleus in response to TGFbeta cytokines. Our past work has shown that Smads bind to target DNAs by means of a conserved amino-terminal domain and that Smad targets in Drosophila are regulated negatively by Brinker. We are currently investigating mechanisms by which Smads repress transcription.

Representative Publications

  • Gao, S. and Laughon, A. 2007. Flexible interation of Drosophila Smad complexes with bipartite binding sites. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 1769:484-496.
  • Gao, S. and Laughon, A. 2006. Decapentaplegic-responsive silencers contain overlapping Mad-binding sites. J. Biol. Chem. 281:25781-25790.
  • Gao, S., Steffens, J. and Laughon, A. 2005. Dpp-Responsive Silencers are Bound by a Trimeric Mad-Med Complex. J. Biol. Chem. 280: 36158-36164.
  • Kirkpatrick, H., Johnson, K. and Laughon, A. 2001. Repression of Dpp targets by binding of Brinker to Mad sites. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 18216-18222.
  • Johnson, K., Kirkpatrick, H., Comer, A., Hoffmann, F.M. and Laughon, A. 1999. Interaction of Smad Complexes with Tripartite DNA-binding Sites. J. Biol. Chem. 274, 20709-20716.