Research Description
My research program centers on the study of the evolution of development mechanisms with a focus on the genes that regulate segmentation and regionalization of the body plan. We are particularly interested in understanding how certain steps in pattern formation that require protein diffusion inDrosophila are accomplished in those insects and crustaceans in which cellularization of the growing embryos would seem to preclude formation of gradients by diffusion. We have also begun to investigate the role of homeotic genes in generating body plan diversification in crustaceans. Another major area of research in the lab centers on investigating the function of the Drosophila segmentation genes during neuronal development and understanding how these genes may have contributed to the evolution of neural complexity.
Selected Publications
Lall, S., M.Z. Ludwig, and N.H. Patel. 2003. Nanos plays a conserved role in axial patterning outside of the diptera. Current Biology 13:224-229.
Gerberding, M., W.E. Browne, and N.H. Patel. 2002. Cell lineage analysis of the amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis reveals an early restriction of cell fates. Development 129:5789-5801.
Davis, G.K. and N.H. Patel. 2002. Short, long and beyond: molecular and embryological approaches to insect segmentation. Annual Reviews of Entomology 47:669-699.
Patel, N.H. and S. Lall. 2002. Precision patterning. Nature 415: 748-749.
Lall, S. and N.H. Patel. 2001. Conservation and divergence in molecular mechanisms of axis formation. Annual Reviews of Genetics 35:407-437.
Davis, G.K., C.A. Jaramillo, and N.H. Patel. 2001. Pax group III genes and the evolution of pair rule pattern. Development 128:3445-3458.
Patel, N.H., D.C. Hayward, S. Lall, N. Pirkl, D. DiPietro, and E.E. Ball. 2001. Grasshopper hunchback expression reveals conserved and novel aspects of axis formation and segmentation. Development 128:3459-3472.
Browne, W.E., and N.H. Patel. 2000. Molecular genetics of crustacean feeding appendage development and diversification. Semin. Cell. Dev. Biol.11:427-435.
Patel, N.H. 2000. It's a bug's life. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 4442-4444.
Ludwig, M.Z., C. Bergman, N.H. Patel, and M. Kreitman. 2000. Evidence for stabilizing selection in a eukaryotic cis-regulatory element. Nature403:564-567.
Davis, G.K., and N.H. Patel. 2000. The origin and evolution of segmentation. Trends Genet. 15:M68-M72.