Scholars@Duke
Amy Bejsovec

Amy Bejsovec

Associate Professor of Biology
Biology
bejsovec@duke.edu
Box 90338, Dept. of Biology, Durham, NC 27708-0338
Rm.369 Biological Sciences, Dept. of Biology, Durham, NC 27708
Manage Profile
Embed Profile Data

Selected Publications

Characterization of Gfat1 (zeppelin) and Gfat2, Essential Paralogous Genes Which Encode the Enzymes That Catalyze the Rate-Limiting Step in the Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway in Drosophila melanogaster.

Journal Article Cells · January 2022 The zeppelin (zep) locus is known for its essential role in the development of the embryonic cuticle of Drosophila melanogaster. We show here that zep encodes Gfat1 (Glutamine: Fructose-6-Phosphate Aminotransferase 1 Full text Cite

Wingless Signaling: A Genetic Journey from Morphogenesis to Metastasis.

Journal Article Genetics · April 2018 This FlyBook chapter summarizes the history and the current state of our understanding of the Wingless signaling pathway. Wingless, the fly homolog of the mammalian Wnt oncoproteins, plays a central role in pattern generation during development. Much of wh ... Full text Cite

SoxNeuro and Shavenbaby act cooperatively to shape denticles in the embryonic epidermis of Drosophila.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · June 2017 During development, extracellular signals are integrated by cells to induce the transcriptional circuitry that controls morphogenesis. In the fly epidermis, Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signaling directs cells to produce either a distinctly shaped denticle or no dent ... Full text Open Access Cite

Pebble/ECT2 RhoGEF negatively regulates the Wingless/Wnt signaling pathway.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · December 2013 Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signaling is essential for patterning invertebrate and vertebrate embryos, and inappropriate Wnt activity is associated with a variety of human cancers. Despite intensive study, Wnt pathway mechanisms are not fully understood. We have dis ... Full text Cite

crinkled reveals a new role for Wingless signaling in Drosophila denticle formation.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · February 2012 The specification of the body plan in vertebrates and invertebrates is controlled by a variety of cell signaling pathways, but how signaling output is translated into morphogenesis is an ongoing question. Here, we describe genetic interactions between the ... Full text Cite

Cytokinesis proteins Tum and Pav have a nuclear role in Wnt regulation.

Journal Article Journal of cell science · July 2010 Wg/Wnt signals specify cell fates in both invertebrate and vertebrate embryos and maintain stem-cell populations in many adult tissues. Deregulation of the Wnt pathway can transform cells to a proliferative fate, leading to cancer. We have discovered that ... Full text Open Access Cite

Cell division requires a direct link between microtubule-bound RacGAP and Anillin in the contractile ring.

Journal Article Current biology : CB · January 2008 The mitotic microtubule array plays two primary roles in cell division. It acts as a scaffold for the congression and separation of chromosomes, and it specifies and maintains the contractile-ring position. The current model for initiation of Drosophila an ... Full text Cite

The HMG-box transcription factor SoxNeuro acts with Tcf to control Wg/Wnt signaling activity.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · March 2007 Wnt signaling specifies cell fates in many tissues during vertebrate and invertebrate embryogenesis. To understand better how Wnt signaling is regulated during development, we have performed genetic screens to isolate mutations that suppress or enhance mut ... Full text Cite

Flying at the head of the pack: Wnt biology in Drosophila.

Journal Article Oncogene · December 2006 The fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, has been of central importance in analysing the mechanics of cellular processes. Classic forward genetic screens in the fly have identified many of the genes that define critical cell signaling pathways, for example. ... Full text Cite

Testing hypotheses for the functions of APC family proteins using null and truncation alleles in Drosophila.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · June 2006 Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) is mutated in colon cancers. During normal development, APC proteins are essential negative regulators of Wnt signaling and have cytoskeletal functions. Many functions have been proposed for APC proteins, but these have oft ... Full text Cite

Tum/RacGAP50C provides a critical link between anaphase microtubules and the assembly of the contractile ring in Drosophila melanogaster.

Journal Article Journal of cell science · November 2005 A central question in understanding cytokinesis is how the cleavage plane is positioned. Although the positioning signal is likely to be transmitted via the anaphase microtubule array to the cell cortex, exactly how the microtubule array determines the sit ... Full text Cite

RacGap50C negatively regulates wingless pathway activity during Drosophila embryonic development.

Journal Article Genetics · April 2005 The Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signal transduction pathway directs a variety of cell fate decisions in developing animal embryos. Despite the identification of many Wg pathway components to date, it is still not clear how these elements work together to generate ce ... Full text Cite

Wnt pathway activation: new relations and locations.

Journal Article Cell · January 2005 Recent advances in the Wnt signaling field reveal new components, such as a G protein and an atypical receptor tyrosine kinase, and novel connections between known components. In addition, different subcellular localization of receptors may help to explain ... Full text Cite

Mutations in eukaryotic release factors 1 and 3 act as general nonsense suppressors in Drosophila.

Journal Article Genetics · October 2003 In a screen for suppressors of the Drosophila wingless(PE4) nonsense allele, we isolated mutations in the two components that form eukaryotic release factor. eRF1 and eRF3 comprise the translation termination complex that recognizes stop codons and catalyz ... Full text Cite

Wingless signaling: an axin to grind.

Journal Article Current biology : CB · June 2003 Negative regulation of Wingless/Wnt signaling plays an important role in embryonic patterning and is also needed for tumor suppression in adult tissues. New findings in Drosophila reveal a novel mechanism for down-regulating the activity of the Wingless/Wn ... Full text Cite

Genetic control of cuticle formation during embryonic development of Drosophila melanogaster.

Journal Article Genetics · May 2002 The embryonic cuticle of Drosophila melanogaster is deposited by the epidermal epithelium during stage 16 of development. This tough, waterproof layer is essential for maintaining the structural integrity of the larval body. We have characterized mutations ... Full text Cite

Wnt signaling: an embarrassment of receptors.

Journal Article Current biology : CB · December 2000 Recent genetic studies in Drosophila and mouse have uncovered a new aspect of the Wnt signal transduction machinery. Mutations disrupting LDL-receptor related proteins produce loss-of-function Wnt phenotypes, suggesting that these cell surface molecules ma ... Full text Cite

Non-equivalent roles of Drosophila Frizzled and Dfrizzled2 in embryonic wingless signal transduction.

Journal Article Current biology : CB · September 2000 The highly conserved Wnt family of growth factors is essential for generating embryonic pattern in many animal species [1]. In the fruit fly Drosophila, most Wnt-mediated patterning is performed by a single family member, Wingless (Wg), acting through its ... Full text Cite

Characterization of Gfat1 (zeppelin) and Gfat2, Essential Paralogous Genes Which Encode the Enzymes That Catalyze the Rate-Limiting Step in the Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway in Drosophila melanogaster.

Journal Article Cells · January 2022 The zeppelin (zep) locus is known for its essential role in the development of the embryonic cuticle of Drosophila melanogaster. We show here that zep encodes Gfat1 (Glutamine: Fructose-6-Phosphate Aminotransferase 1 Full text Cite

Wingless Signaling: A Genetic Journey from Morphogenesis to Metastasis.

Journal Article Genetics · April 2018 This FlyBook chapter summarizes the history and the current state of our understanding of the Wingless signaling pathway. Wingless, the fly homolog of the mammalian Wnt oncoproteins, plays a central role in pattern generation during development. Much of wh ... Full text Cite

SoxNeuro and Shavenbaby act cooperatively to shape denticles in the embryonic epidermis of Drosophila.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · June 2017 During development, extracellular signals are integrated by cells to induce the transcriptional circuitry that controls morphogenesis. In the fly epidermis, Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signaling directs cells to produce either a distinctly shaped denticle or no dent ... Full text Open Access Cite

Pebble/ECT2 RhoGEF negatively regulates the Wingless/Wnt signaling pathway.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · December 2013 Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signaling is essential for patterning invertebrate and vertebrate embryos, and inappropriate Wnt activity is associated with a variety of human cancers. Despite intensive study, Wnt pathway mechanisms are not fully understood. We have dis ... Full text Cite

crinkled reveals a new role for Wingless signaling in Drosophila denticle formation.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · February 2012 The specification of the body plan in vertebrates and invertebrates is controlled by a variety of cell signaling pathways, but how signaling output is translated into morphogenesis is an ongoing question. Here, we describe genetic interactions between the ... Full text Cite

Cytokinesis proteins Tum and Pav have a nuclear role in Wnt regulation.

Journal Article Journal of cell science · July 2010 Wg/Wnt signals specify cell fates in both invertebrate and vertebrate embryos and maintain stem-cell populations in many adult tissues. Deregulation of the Wnt pathway can transform cells to a proliferative fate, leading to cancer. We have discovered that ... Full text Open Access Cite

Cell division requires a direct link between microtubule-bound RacGAP and Anillin in the contractile ring.

Journal Article Current biology : CB · January 2008 The mitotic microtubule array plays two primary roles in cell division. It acts as a scaffold for the congression and separation of chromosomes, and it specifies and maintains the contractile-ring position. The current model for initiation of Drosophila an ... Full text Cite

The HMG-box transcription factor SoxNeuro acts with Tcf to control Wg/Wnt signaling activity.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · March 2007 Wnt signaling specifies cell fates in many tissues during vertebrate and invertebrate embryogenesis. To understand better how Wnt signaling is regulated during development, we have performed genetic screens to isolate mutations that suppress or enhance mut ... Full text Cite

Flying at the head of the pack: Wnt biology in Drosophila.

Journal Article Oncogene · December 2006 The fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, has been of central importance in analysing the mechanics of cellular processes. Classic forward genetic screens in the fly have identified many of the genes that define critical cell signaling pathways, for example. ... Full text Cite

Testing hypotheses for the functions of APC family proteins using null and truncation alleles in Drosophila.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · June 2006 Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) is mutated in colon cancers. During normal development, APC proteins are essential negative regulators of Wnt signaling and have cytoskeletal functions. Many functions have been proposed for APC proteins, but these have oft ... Full text Cite

Tum/RacGAP50C provides a critical link between anaphase microtubules and the assembly of the contractile ring in Drosophila melanogaster.

Journal Article Journal of cell science · November 2005 A central question in understanding cytokinesis is how the cleavage plane is positioned. Although the positioning signal is likely to be transmitted via the anaphase microtubule array to the cell cortex, exactly how the microtubule array determines the sit ... Full text Cite

RacGap50C negatively regulates wingless pathway activity during Drosophila embryonic development.

Journal Article Genetics · April 2005 The Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signal transduction pathway directs a variety of cell fate decisions in developing animal embryos. Despite the identification of many Wg pathway components to date, it is still not clear how these elements work together to generate ce ... Full text Cite

Wnt pathway activation: new relations and locations.

Journal Article Cell · January 2005 Recent advances in the Wnt signaling field reveal new components, such as a G protein and an atypical receptor tyrosine kinase, and novel connections between known components. In addition, different subcellular localization of receptors may help to explain ... Full text Cite

Mutations in eukaryotic release factors 1 and 3 act as general nonsense suppressors in Drosophila.

Journal Article Genetics · October 2003 In a screen for suppressors of the Drosophila wingless(PE4) nonsense allele, we isolated mutations in the two components that form eukaryotic release factor. eRF1 and eRF3 comprise the translation termination complex that recognizes stop codons and catalyz ... Full text Cite

Wingless signaling: an axin to grind.

Journal Article Current biology : CB · June 2003 Negative regulation of Wingless/Wnt signaling plays an important role in embryonic patterning and is also needed for tumor suppression in adult tissues. New findings in Drosophila reveal a novel mechanism for down-regulating the activity of the Wingless/Wn ... Full text Cite

Genetic control of cuticle formation during embryonic development of Drosophila melanogaster.

Journal Article Genetics · May 2002 The embryonic cuticle of Drosophila melanogaster is deposited by the epidermal epithelium during stage 16 of development. This tough, waterproof layer is essential for maintaining the structural integrity of the larval body. We have characterized mutations ... Full text Cite

Wnt signaling: an embarrassment of receptors.

Journal Article Current biology : CB · December 2000 Recent genetic studies in Drosophila and mouse have uncovered a new aspect of the Wnt signal transduction machinery. Mutations disrupting LDL-receptor related proteins produce loss-of-function Wnt phenotypes, suggesting that these cell surface molecules ma ... Full text Cite

Non-equivalent roles of Drosophila Frizzled and Dfrizzled2 in embryonic wingless signal transduction.

Journal Article Current biology : CB · September 2000 The highly conserved Wnt family of growth factors is essential for generating embryonic pattern in many animal species [1]. In the fruit fly Drosophila, most Wnt-mediated patterning is performed by a single family member, Wingless (Wg), acting through its ... Full text Cite

Production of transgenic Drosophila.

Journal Article Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · January 2000 Full text Cite

Directionality of wingless protein transport influences epidermal patterning in the Drosophila embryo.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · October 1999 Active endocytotic processes are required for the normal distribution of Wingless (Wg) protein across the epidermal cells of each embryonic segment. To assess the functional consequences of this broad Wg distribution, we have devised a means of perturbing ... Full text Cite

Drosophila APC2 is a cytoskeletally-associated protein that regulates wingless signaling in the embryonic epidermis.

Journal Article The Journal of cell biology · September 1999 The tumor suppressor adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) negatively regulates Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signal transduction by helping target the Wnt effector beta-catenin or its Drosophila homologue Armadillo (Arm) for destruction. In cultured mammalian cells, APC l ... Full text Cite

Wnt signalling shows its versatility.

Journal Article Current biology : CB · September 1999 Wnt signalling controls many different cell fate choices in a wide variety of animal species. Recent studies have revealed that regulatory interactions at several steps in the pathway can modify its outcome, helping to explain how the same pathway can, in ... Full text Cite

Cellular mechanisms of wingless/Wnt signal transduction.

Journal Article Current topics in developmental biology · January 1999 Wg/Wnt signaling regulates cell proliferation and differentiation in species as divergent as nematodes, flies, frogs, and humans. Many components of this highly conserved process have been characterized and work from a number of laboratories is beginning t ... Full text Cite

Functional analysis of Wingless reveals a link between intercellular ligand transport and dorsal-cell-specific signaling.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · December 1998 The Drosophila segment polarity gene wingless (wg) is essential for cell fate decisions in the developing embryonic epidermis. Wg protein is produced in one row of cells near the posterior of every segment and is secreted and distributed throughout the seg ... Full text Cite

Drosophila Tcf and Groucho interact to repress Wingless signalling activity.

Journal Article Nature · October 1998 Wingless/Wnt signalling directs cell-fate choices during embryonic development. Inappropriate reactivation of the pathway causes cancer. In Drosophila, signal transduction from Wingless stabilizes cytosolic Armadillo, which then forms a bipartite transcrip ... Full text Cite

Wingless signaling generates pattern through two distinct mechanisms.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · October 1997 wingless (wg) and its vertebrate homologues, the Wnt genes, play critical roles in the generation of embryonic pattern. In the developing Drosophila epidermis, wg is expressed in a single row of cells in each segment, but it influences cell identities in a ... Full text Cite

Negative regulation of Armadillo, a Wingless effector in Drosophila.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · June 1997 Drosophila Armadillo and its vertebrate homolog beta-catenin play essential roles both in the transduction of Wingless/Wnt cell-cell signals and in the function of cell-cell adherens junctions. Wingless and Wnts direct numerous cell fate choices during dev ... Full text Cite

Armadillo coactivates transcription driven by the product of the Drosophila segment polarity gene dTCF.

Journal Article Cell · March 1997 The vertebrate transcription factors TCF (T cell factor) and LEF (lymphocyte enhancer binding factor) interact with beta-catenin and are hypothesized to mediate Wingless/Wnt signaling. We have cloned a maternally expressed Drosophila TCF family member, dTC ... Full text Cite

Signaling activities of the Drosophila wingless gene are separately mutable and appear to be transduced at the cell surface.

Journal Article Genetics · January 1995 The Drosophila segment polarity gene wingless encodes an intercellular signaling molecule that transmits positional information during development of the embryonic epidermis. We have explored the mechanism of wg signal transduction by perturbing cellular p ... Full text Cite

Segment polarity gene interactions modulate epidermal patterning in Drosophila embryos.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · October 1993 Each segment of a Drosophila larva shows a precisely organized pattern of cuticular structures, indicating diverse cellular identities in the underlying epidermis. Mutations in the segment polarity genes alter the cuticle pattern secreted by the epidermal ... Full text Cite

Knowing your neighbors: Cell interactions determine intrasegmental patterning in Drosophila

Journal Article Trends in Genetics · January 1, 1992 Intercellular signaling and signal transduction are taking their place as primary mechanisms by which the fates of cells are decided during development. Recent work indicates that these mechanisms convey positional information to the epidermal cells in seg ... Full text Cite

Roles of wingless in patterning the larval epidermis of Drosophila.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · October 1991 The larval epidermis of Drosophila shows a stereotyped segmentally repeating pattern of cuticular structures. Mutants deficient for the wingless gene product show highly disrupted patterning of the larval cuticle. We have manipulated expression of the wg g ... Full text Cite

Secretion and movement of wingless protein in the epidermis of the Drosophila embryo.

Journal Article Mechanisms of development · August 1991 The segment polarity gene wingless encodes a cysteine rich protein which is essential for pattern formation in Drosophila. Using polyclonal antibodies against the product of the wingless gene, we demonstrate that this protein is secreted in the embryo and ... Full text Cite

Functions of the myosin ATP and actin binding sites are required for C. elegans thick filament assembly.

Journal Article Cell · January 1990 We have determined the positions and sequences of 31 dominant mutations affecting a C. elegans muscle myosin heavy chain gene. These mutations alter thick filament structure in heterozygotes by interfering with the ability of wild-type myosin to assemble i ... Full text Cite

Myosin heavy-chain mutations that disrupt Caenorhabditis elegans thick filament assembly.

Journal Article Genes & development · October 1988 We have investigated Caenorhabditis elegans mutants in which altered unc-54 myosin heavy-chain protein interferes with assembly of thick myofilaments. These mutants have a dominant, muscle-defective phenotype, because altered myosin heavy-chain B (MHC B), ... Full text Cite