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Joined the Department in 2004 |
Brian Perkins 3258 TAMU Office: Lab: Fax: 979-845-2891 |
| Genetic Studies of Retinal Development in Vertebrates
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Tobler, M., Coleman, S. W., Perkins, B. D., and Rosenthal, G. G. (in press) Reduced opsin gene expression in a cave-dwelling fish. Biology Letters Krock, B. L., Mills-Henry, I., and Perkins, B. D. (in press) Retrograde Intraflagellar Transport by Cytoplasmic Dynein-2 is Required for Outer Segment Extension in Vertebrate Photoreceptors but not Arrestin Translocation. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Lunt, S. C., Haynes, T, and Perkins, B. D. ebrafish ift57, ift88, and ift172 intraflagellar transport mutants disrupt cilia but do not affect Hedgehog signaling Developmental Dynamics. 238(7):1744-59 Sukumaran, S. and Perkins, B. D. (2009) Early Defects in Photoreceptor Outer Segment Morphogenesis in Zebrafish ift57, ift88, and ift172 Intraflagellar Transport Mutants. Vision Research. 49(4):479-89. Krock, B. L., and Perkins, B. D. (2008) IFT57 is Necessary for Photoreceptor Outer Segment Maintenance and Kinesin II Dissociation from the IFT Particle. Journal of Cell Science. 121(11):1907-1915. Insinna, C., Pathak, N., Perkins, B. D., Drummond, I., and Besharse, J. C. (2008) The homodimeric kinesin, Kif17, is essential for vertebrate photoreceptor sensory outer segment development. Developmental Biology. 316, 160-170 Gross, J. M., and Perkins, B. D. (2008) Zebrafish Mutants as Models for Congenital Ocular Disorders in Humans. Molecular Reproduction and Development. 75(3):547-555. Krock, B. L., Bilotta, J., and Perkins, B. D. (2007) Noncell-autonomous photoreceptor degeneration in a zebrafish model of choroideremia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104(11):4600-4605. Perkins, B. D., Nicholas, C. S., Baye, L., Link, B. A., and Dowling, J. D. (2005) The dazed gene is necessary for late cell type development and retinal cell maintenance in the zebrafish retina. Developmental Dynamics, 233(2):680-694 Gross, J., Perkins, B. D., Amsterdam, A., Egana, A., Darland, T., Matsui, J., Sciascia, S., Hopkins, N., and Dowling, J. D. (2005) Mutations affecting vertebrate eye development identified by insertional mutagenesis in zebrafish. Genetics, 170(1):245-61. Koeller, K.M., Haggarty, S.J., Perkins, B. D., Leykin, I., Wong, J.C., Kao, M-C, and Schreiber, S.L. (2003) Chemical genetic modifier screens: small molecule trichostatin suppressors as probes of acetylation in transcription, cell cycle progression, and stability of the cytoskeleton. Chemistry and Biology 10(5):397-410. Perkins, B. D., Kainz, P.M., O’Malley, D.M., and Dowling, J.E. (2002) Transgenic Expression of a GFP-Rhodopsin COOH-Terminal Fusion Protein in Zebrafish Rod Photoreceptors. Visual Neuroscience 19(3):257-264. |
Dr. Perkins investigates the cell biology of hereditary blindness to understand the causes of photoreceptor degeneration. His lab uses zebrafish to investigate the mechanisms underlying photoreceptor morphogenesis, intracellular trafficking, and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) function. The small size and rapid development of zebrafish enable his lab to efficiently and rapidly conduct many experiments in a small amount of space and as a vertebrate, the genetic pathways, physiology, and anatomy of the retina is very similar to humans. Thus, what he learns from the studies in zebrafish will be applicable to understanding the pathways leading to retinal disease in humans. The lab currently focuses on defects in various tissues resulting from loss of function in genes required for cilia formation and function. Specifically, we use mutants and loss of function strategies (e.g. morpholino oligonucleotides) to study how Intraflagellar Transport (IFT) affects photoreceptor outer segment formation. The long term goal is to understand how defects in cilia formation and intracellular trafficking cause vision loss in diseases such as Age Related Macular Degeneration, Bardet-Biedl Syndrome and Retinitis Pigmentosa.