Laboratory of Cell Structure and Signal Integration

From left: Matheson, Rodriguez, West, Strunk, Deward, Guthrey, Leali, Kitchen, Eisenmann, Alberts

Scientific Overview

General Overview

Art Alberts’ laboratory is studying cell signaling and cell structure, in particular the structures that allow cells to change shape and to move. The ability of a cell to move is an essential aspect of a cancer cell’s ability to metastasize, i.e., to form tumors in the body distant from the original tumor. The family of proteins called Rho, which are active in signaling within cells and have an important role in the metastasis of cancer cells, are a major focus of the experiments. Also under study are the proteins called Diaphanous-related formins, molecules that can be activated by the Rho proteins and then create various changes in the molecular “skeleton” of actin filaments within the cell. Learning how these proteins combine to regulate a cell’s structures and functions is a major goal of the research.

Selected Publications

Sarmiento C, Wang W, Dovas A, Yamaguchi H, Sidani M, El-Sibai M, Desmarais V, Holman HA, Kitchen S, Backer JM, Alberts A, Condeelis J. 2008. WASP family members and formin proteins coordinate regulation of cell protrusions in carcinoma cells. Journal of Cell Biology 180(6): 1245-1260.  PubMed   Article 

Dent EW, Kwiatkowski AV, Mebane LM, Philippar U, Barzik M, Rubinson DA, Gupton S, Van Veen JE, Furman C, Zhang J, Alberts AS, Mori S, Gertler FB. 2007. Filopodia are required for cortical neurite initiation. Nature Cell Biology. 9(12): 1347-1359.  PubMed   Article 

Gupton, Stephanie L., Eisenmann, Kathryn, Alberts, Arthur S., Waterman-Storer, Clare M. 2007. mDia2 regulates actin and focal adhesion dynamics and organization in the lamella for efficient epithelial cell migration. Journal of Cell Science 120(Pt 19): 3475-3487.  PubMed   Article 

Uma Kamasani, James B. DuHadaway, Arthur S. Alberts, and George C. Prendergast. 2007. mDia Function is Critical for the Cell Suicide Program Triggered by Farnesyl Transferase inhibition. Cancer Biology & Therapy 6(9).  PubMed   Article 

Jun Peng, Susan M. Kitchen, Richard A. West, Robert Sigler, Kathryn M. Eisenmann, and Arthur S. Alberts. 2007. Myeloproliferative Defects Following Targeting of the Drf1 Gene Encoding the Mammalian Diaphanous-related Formin mDia1. Cancer Research 67(16): 7565-7571.  PubMed   Article 

Kathryn M. Eisenmann, Richard A. West, Dagmar Hildebrand, Susan M. Kitchen, Jun Peng, Robert Sigler, Jinyi Zhang, Katherine A. Siminovitch, and Arthur S. Alberts. 2007. T cell responses in mammalian diaphanous-related formin mDia1 knockout mice. Journal of Biological Chemistry 282(34): 25152-25158.  PubMed   Article 

Eisenmann, Kathryn M., Elizabeth S. Harris, Susan M. Kitchen, Holly A. Holman, Henry N. Higgs, and Arthur S. Alberts. 2007. Dia-interacting protein modulates formin-mediated actin assembly at the cell cortex. Current Biology 17(7): 579-591.  PubMed   Article 

Wallar, Bradley J., Aaron D. DeWard, James H. Resau, and Arthur S. Alberts. 2007. RhoB and the mammalian Diaphanous-related formin mDia2 in endosome trafficking. Experimental Cell Research 313(3): 560-571.  PubMed   Article 

Wallar, Bradley J., Brittany N. Stropich, Jessica A. Schoenherr, Holly A. Holman, Susan M. Kitchen, and Arthur S. Alberts. 2006. The basic region of the diaphanous-autoregulatory domain (DAD) is required for autoregulatory interactions with the diaphanous-related formin inhibitory domain. Journal of Biological Chemistry 281(7): 4300–4307.  PubMed   Article 

Eisenmann, Kathryn M., Jun Peng, Bradley J. Wallar, and Arthur S. Alberts. 2005. Rho GTPase-formin pairs in cytoskeletal remodeling. Signalling Networks in Cell Shape and Motility Novartis Foundation Symp. series, Vol. 269. London, U.K.: Novartis Foundation: 206–230.  PubMed 

Colucci-Guyon, Emma, Florence Niedergang, Bradley J. Wallar, Jun Peng, Arthur S. Alberts, and Philippe Chavrier. 2005. A role for mammalian Diaphanous-related formins in complement receptor (CR-3)-mediated phagocytosis in macrophages. Current Biology 15(22): 2007–2012.  PubMed   Article 

Alberts, Arthur S., Huajun Qin, Heather S. Carr, and Jeffery A. Frost. 2005. PAK1 negatively regulates the activity of the Rho exchange factor NET1. Journal of Biological Chemistry 280(13): 12152–12161.  PubMed   Article 

Wen, Ying, Christina H. Eng, Jan Schmoranzer, Noemi Cabrera-Poch, Edward J.S. Morris, Michael Chen, Bradley J. Wallar, Arthur S. Alberts, and Gregg G. Gundersen. 2004. EB1 and APC bind to mDia to stabilize microtubules downstream of Rho and promote cell migration. Nature Cell Biology 6(9): 820–830.  PubMed   Article 

Wallar, Bradley J., and Arthur S. Alberts. 2003. The formins: active scaffolds that remodel the cytoskeleton. Trends in Cell Biology 13(8): 435-446.  PubMed   Article 

Peng, Jun, Bradley J. Wallar, Akiko Flanders, Pamela J. Swiatek, and Arthur S. Alberts. 2003. Disruption of the Diaphanous-related formin Drf1 gene encoding mDia1 reveals a role for Drf3 as an effector for Cdc42. Current Biology 13(7): 534-545.  PubMed   Article 

Alberts, Arthur S. 2002. Diaphanous-related Formin homology proteins. Current Biology 12(23): R796.  PubMed   Article 

Alberts, Arthur S. 2001. Identification of a carboxyl-terminal diaphanous-related formin homology protein autoregulatory domain. Journal of Biological Chemistry 276(4): 2824-2830.  PubMed   Article 

Tominaga, T., Sahai, E., Chardin, P., McCormick, F., Courtneidge, S.A., and Alberts, A.S. 2000. Diaphanous-related formins bridge Rho GTPase and Src tyrosine kinase signaling. Molecular Cell 5(1): 13-25.  PubMed   Article