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Phone:509-335-2991 Fax: 509-335-4246 Email:danrodgers@wsu.edu
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Molecular mechanisms and physiological integration of growth, development and metabolism.
In mammals, skeletal muscle growth and development are negatively
regulated by a growth and differentiating factor appropriately
named myostatin. Homozygous knockout mice, which lack the gene
encoding MSTN, display a "double muscling" phenotype
characterized by extreme skeletal muscle hypertrophy and hyperplasia.
My laboratory has successfully isolated and characterized myostatin
cDNA clones from several fish species. Although the encoded
proteins are structurally very well conserved, myostatin expression
in mammals is primarily limited to skeletal muscle, but is expressed
in several different fish tissues in addition to skeletal muscle.
These include the testis, ovary and brain, most notably in the
hypothalamus. These results suggest that the biological actions
of myostatin in fish may not be limited to myocyte growth repression,
but may additionally influence the activity of many different
cell types and organ systems. Recent studies with mice suggest
that some of the actions of myostatin are actually mediated through
activin receptors, which are widely dispersed in many different
fish tissues including the brain and pituitary. Myostatin's expression
in the hypothalamus suggests that it may participate in the control
of pituitary hormone synthesis and release, as gonadotropes and
lactotropes both possess activin receptors. The long-term goal
of our studies is to determine how myostatin influences the reproductive
status of two commercially important fish species, the tilapia
Oreochromis mossambicus and the rainbow trout Onchorynchus
mykiss, by assessing its ability to regulate the synthesis
and release of "reproductive" hormones from the pituitary
and to influence gonadal and germ cell development. Our studies
incorporate both in vitro and in vivo experimental
models that utilize modern biochemical, recombinant DNA and transgenic
methodologies.
C.S. Nicoll, B.D. Rodgers, K.M. Kelley. Hormonal regulation of growth and development of nonmammalian vertebrates. In J.L. Kostyo (Ed.) Handbook of Physiology, Hormonal Regulation of Growth, London, England: Oxford Universtiy Press, 5:73-98, 1999. C. Montrose-Rafizadeh, P. Avdonin, M.J. Garant, B.D. Rodgers, S. Kole, M.A. Levine, W. Schwindinger, S. Kole, M. Bernier. Pancreatic GLP-1 receptor couples to multiple G-proteins and activates MAP kinase pathways in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Endocrinology 140:1132-1140, 1999. H. Yang, B.D. Rodgers, J.M. Egan, M. Bernier, C. Montrose-Rafizadeh. Differential expression of a novel seven transmembrane domain transcript in epididymal fat of multiple murine diabetes models. Endocrinology, 140(6):2859-67, 1999. T.J. Marcel, S.M. Harman, R.J. Urban, D.D. Metz, B.D. Rodgers, M.R. Blackman. Comparison of GH, IGF-I and testosterone with mRNA of receptors and myostatin in skeletal muscle in older men. Am J Physiol; Endocrinol Metab 281:E1159-E1164, 2001. B.D. Rodgers & G.M. Weber. Sequence conservation among fish myostatin orthologues and the characterization of two additional cDNA clones from Morone saxatilis and Morone americana. Comp Biochem Physiol (B Biochem Mol Biol) 129(2-3):597-603, 2001. B.D. Rodgers, G.M. Weber, K.M. Kelley, M.A. Levine. Prolonged
fasting and cortisol reduce myostatin mRNA levels in developing tilapia
larvae, short-term fasting elevates. Am J Physiol; Reg Int Comp Physiol,
May;284(5):R1277-8, 2003.
M. Oufattole, S.W.J. Lin, B. Liu, D. Mascarenhas, P. Cohen and B.D. Rodgers.
2006 RNA polymerase II subunit 3 (Rpb3), a potential nuclear target of
IGFBP-3. Endocrinology 147(5):2138-46,
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