Professor
Publications | Research | Faculty
Background:
Michael Goldberg, an Professor of Genetics, received a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University in 1973 and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford University in 1979. He was a postdoctoral fellow of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation at the University of Basel, Switzerland, from 1979 to 1981, and at Harvard University from 1981 to 1982. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1982. He is a member of both the Graduate Field of Genetics and Development and Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cell Biology. Dr. Goldberg's research program has been supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Agriculture, and the Cornell Biotechnology Program. He was a Senior Fellow of the Fogarty International Center in 1989, performing research at Imperial College, London, England. He is a member of the Genetics Society of America,the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Society for Cell Biology, and is currently a member of the Genetics Study Section at the National Institutes of Health. Professor Goldberg teaches BioMG 2810.
The major focus of our laboratory is the genetic, cytological, and molecular analysis of genes required for the proper segregation of chromosomes to daughter cells during mitosis and meiosis in Drosophila melanogaster. We have identified several such loci by screening collections of mutants for aberrant chromosome cytology. A wide range of phenotypes is represented, including mutations causing aneuploidy, polyploidy, metaphase arrest, endoreduplication of mitotic chromosomes, low mitotic index, and abnormal chromosome morphology.
We have focused our attention to date on mutations yielding aneuploid and polyploid cells. We have cloned a gene on the Drosophila X chromosome called zw10, mutations in which lead to the appearance of a large number of aneuploid cells. Although metaphase structures in mutant cells are normal, anaphases are aberrant, with chromatids that stay at the equator of the spindle and do not migrate to the poles. We have found that the zw10 gene product is a protein which is found along the spindle at metaphase, but then relocalizes to the kinetochores of chromosomes at the beginning of anaphase. These results suggest that the movement of this protein to the kinetochore is necessary for proper separation or poleward movement of sister chromatids at the metaphase/anaphase transition. In line with this hypothesis, we have recently found that the zw10 protein is required to localize the microtubule motor dynein to the kinetochore at prometaphase.
We have also cloned several genes that are required for proper cytokinesis, the process that separates daughter cells at the conclusion of cell division. Mutations in these genes lead to highly polyploid cells, some containing hundreds of chromosomes rather than the normal eight found in diploid Drosophila cells. We have found that one of these genes encodes a homolog of an actin-binding protein called cofilin, while another encodes a novel form of kinesin, a mechanochemical motor protein that moves along microtubules.
Future work in our laboratory will address intensive analysis of the function of the proteins we have already characterized, and will expand to include several new mutations we have identified that are required either for sister chromatid separation or for cytokinesis.
Click here to view Dr. Goldberg's PubMed listings.
The Drosophila kinesin-like protein KLP3A is a midbody component required for central spindle assembly and initiation of cytokinesis. J. Cell Biol. 129:709-723 (1995). With B.C.Williams, M.F. Riedy, E.V. Williams, and M. Gatti.
The Drosophila cofilin-like gene twinstar is required for cytokinesis and centrosome migration. J. Cell Biol. 131:1243-1259 (1995). With K.C. Gunsalus, S. Bonaccorsi, E. Williams, F.Verni, and M. Gatti.
Bipolar spindle attachments affect redistributions of ZW10, a Drosophila centromere/kinetochore component required for accurate chromosome segregation. J. Cell Biology 134:1127-1140 (1996). With B.C. Williams and M. Gatti.
UbcD1, a Drosophila ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme required for proper telomere behavior. Genes Develop. 11:863-875 (1997). With G. Cenci, R. Rawson, G. Belloni, D.H., Castrillon, M. Tudor, R. Petrucci, S.A. Wasserman, and M. Gatti.