Name: Mary Lou King

Position: Emeritus Professor (Retired)

Research Description:

Cell Fate Determination in the Embryo; mRNA Localization in Oocytes .

My laboratory studied how cell fate is determined in the early Xenopus embryo. Our work has shown that the localization of a small number of mRNAs to one pole of the future egg is critical to normal development. Proteins encoded by these localized mRNAs influence gene expression and cell fate decisions. The cells that will eventually give rise to the gametes, the primordial germ cells, comprise the first cell lineage to be specified by localized mRNAs. Only the germ cell lineage has a program of differentiation that maintains totipotency, or the ability to give rise to all other cell types. Discovering how the germline is initially specified and develops separate from the somatic cell lineages is a fundamental problem.

Contact Information

Address:
Departments of Cell Biology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology
R-124
Gautier Building Rm 517
University of Miami Medical School
1600 NW 10th Ave
Miami, FL
33136, USA