Email: w.detrich@neu.edu

Phone: 617.373.4495
Fax: 617.373.3724

Location: 420 Mugar Life Sciences
Mail: NU/Biology
         134 Mugar Life Sciences
         360 Huntington Avenue
         Boston, MA 02115 USA

Web Page

Research Description

My research interests center on the genetic pathway of red blood cell formation (erythropoiesis) and the function of the cytoskeleton in cold-living and temperate fishes.   Four major projects are in progress in my laboratory:

1.   Genomic Instability and the Evolution of the Erythrocyte-Null

      Condition of Antarctic Icefishes

Evolutionary processes have created organisms and communities that are as stunning in their beauty and complexity as they are unexpected by and novel to biological scientists.   Indeed, the evolution of the erythrocyteless icefishes, the most derived of the eight families of the largely Antarctic perciform suborder Notothenioidei, has long presented evolutionary biologists with a conundrum: how is it possible for organisms that lack functional erythrocytes and the oxygen transport protein hemoglobin, which are presumably essential to vertebrate life, to evolve at all?   We are investigating the mechanisms by which the erythrocyte-null condition of the icefishes evolved.   Preliminary evidence suggests that genomic instability mediated by mobile genetic elements and repetitive DNA sequences was an important evolutionary driver that led to this unusual phenotype.  

2.    Comparative Genomics in Erythropoietic Gene Discovery

We have developed a multi-model, comparative genomics strategy, which exploits the erythrocyte-null condition of the Antarctic icefishes, to scan the vertebrate genome for new genes involved in erythropoiesis.   These natural “knockouts” of the erythroid lineage are a unique resource for analyzing the genetic program of erythropoiesis by subtractive genomic strategies.   However, due to their long generation times (many years to reproductive maturity), Antarctic fishes are not suitable subjects for functional analysis of the genes so discovered.   The zebrafish Danio rerio , our second model system, reproduces rapidly with high fecundity and is widely used for analysis of gene function during vertebrate development.   Thus, our overall strategy is to use Antarctic icefishes to isolate potential erythropoietic genes, to clone the zebrafish orthologs of these novel genes, and then to determine the functions of the genes in zebrafish embryos using reverse genetic technologies.

3.    Regulation of Tubulin and Globin Gene Expression in

       Antarctic Fishes

 

We seek to understand the modifications to the transcriptional apparatus that maintain efficient gene expression at low temperatures.   Our objectives include the functional analysis of the promoter elements of tubulin and globin genes and the characterization of the transcription factors that regulate the expression of these genes.   In a related project, we are characterizing the inactive globin genes that are present in the genomes of the hemoglobinless Antarctic icefishes.  

4.    Role of Microtubule Motors in Zebrafish Morphogenesis

Our fourth project involves molecular analysis of the mechanisms of morphogenesis of zebrafish embryos.   Specifically, we are investigating the roles played by microtubule motors in mitosis, in cytokinesis, and in the positioning of developmental determinants in the gastrulating zygote.

Here is a gallery of the fish I work on.

Sanchez, S., Dettaï, A., Bonillo, C., Ozouf-Costaz, C., Detrich, H. W., III, & Lecointre, G. (2007) Molecular and Morphological Phylogenies of the Antarctic Teleostean Family Nototheniidae, with Emphasis on the Trematominae.  Polar Biol. 30, 155-166.  DOI:10.1007/s00300-006-0170-1.

Pisano, E., Coutanceau, J.-P., Ghigliotti, L., Mazzei, F., Lecointre, G., Detrich, W., & Ozouf-Costaz, C. (2006) Karyotypes of Basal Lineages in Notothenioid Fishes: The Genus Bovichtus. Pol. Biol. 29, 1071-1076.  DOI:10.1007/s00300-006-0151-4.

Near, T. J., Parker, S. A., & Detrich, H. W., III. (2006) A Genomic Fossil Reveals Key Steps in Hemoglobin Loss by the Antarctic Icefishes.  Mol. Biol. Evol. 23, 2008-2016.  DOI:10.1093/molbev/msl071.

Pucciarelli, S., Parker, S. K., Detrich, H. W., III, & Melki, R. (2006) Characterization of the Cytoplasmic Chaperonin Containing TCP-1 (CCT) from the Antarctic fish Notothenia coriiceps. Extremophiles 10, 537-549. DOI:10.1007/s00792-006-0528-x.

Near, T. J., Kendrick, B. J., Detrich, H. W., III, & Jones, C. J. (2006) Confirmation of Neutral Buoyancy in Aethotaxis mitopteryx DeWitt (Notothenioidei: Nototheniidae). Polar Biol. In press.  DOI:10.1007/s00300-006-0201-y.

Yergeau, D. A., Cornell, C. N., Parker, S. K., Zhou, Y., and Detrich, H. W., III (2005) bloodthirsty, an RBCC/TRIM Gene Required for Erythropoiesis in Zebrafish. Dev. Biol. 283, 97-112. [PDF]

Detrich, H. W., III, Jones, C. D., Kim, S., North, A. W., Thurber, A., and Vacchi, M. (2005) Nesting Behavior of the Icefish Chaenocephalus aceratus at Bouvetoya Island, Southern Ocean. Pol. Biol., on line. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0010-8

Redeker, V., Frankfurter, A., Parker, S. K., Rossier, J., & Detrich, H. W., III. (2004) Posttranslational Modification of Brain Tubulins from the Antarctic Fish Notothenia coriiceps : Reduced C-Terminal Glutamylation Correlates with Efficient Microtubule Assembly at Low Temperature Biochemistry , 43, 12265-12274. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bi049070z

Clark, M. S., Clarke, A., Cockell, C. S., Convey, P., Detrich, H. W., III, Fraser, K. P. P., Johnston, I. A., Methe, B. A., Murray, A. E., Peck, L. S., Ramisch, K., and Rogers, A. D. (2004) Antarctic Genomics. Comp. Funct. Genom. 5, 230-238. [PDF]

Paluh, J., Killilea, A. N., Detrich, H. W., III, & Downing, K. H. (2004) Meiosis-Specific Failure of Cell Cycle Progression in Fission Yeast by Mutation of a Conserved ?-Tubulin Residue. Mol. Biol. Cell 15, 1160-1171. [PDF]

Pisano, E., Cocca, E., Mazzei, F., Ghigliotti, L., di Prisco, G., Detrich, H. W., III, & Ozouf-Costaz, C. (2003) Mapping of "alpha" and "beta" Globin Genes on Antarctic Fish Chromosomes by Fluorescence In Situ Hybridisation. Chromosome Res. 11, 633-640.

Ota, T., Nguyen, T.-A., Huang, H., Detrich, H. W., III, & Amemiya, C. T. (2003) Positive Darwinian Selection Operating on the Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains of Antarctic Fishes. J. Exptl. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 295B1, 45-58. [PDF]

di Prisco, G., Cocca, E., Parker, S.K., & Detrich, H.W., III. (2003) Tracking the Evolutionary Loss of Hemoglobin Expression by the White-blooded Antarctic Icefishes. Gene 295, 185-191.

Chen, M.-C., Zhou, Y., & Detrich, H.W., III. (2002) Zebrafish Mitotic Kinesin-Like Protein 1 (Mklp1) Functions in Embryonic Cytokinesis. Physiol. Genomics 8, 51-66. [PDF] [additional documentation]

Lau, D. T., Saeed, A., Parker, S. K., & Detrich, H. W., III. (2001) Adaptive Evolution of Gene Expression in Antarctic Fishes: Divergent Transcription of the 5'-to-5' Linked Adult Alpha1- and Beta-Globin Genes of the Antarctic Teleost Notothenia coriiceps Is Controlled by Dual Promoters and Intergenic Enhancers. Am. Zool. 41, 113-132.

Detrich, H. W., III, Parker, S. K., Williams, R. C., Jr., Nogales, E., & Downing, K. H. (2000) Cold Adaptation of Microtubule Assembly and Dynamics: Structural Interpretation of Primary Sequence Changes Present in the Alpha and Beta Tubulins of Antarctic Fishes. J. Biol. Chem. 275, 37038-37047. [View Cover Illustration] [PDF]

Detrich, H. W., III, Westerfield, M., & Zon, L. I. (1999) Overview of the Zebrafish System. In Methods in Cell Biology: The Zebrafish, Vol. 59 (Detrich, H.W., III, Westerfield, M., & Zon, L.I., Eds.), Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 3-10.

Chen, M.-C., & Detrich, H.W., III (1999) Kinesin-Like Microtubule Motors in Early Development. In Methods in Cell Biology: The Zebrafish, Vol. 59 (Detrich, H.W., III, Westerfield, M., & Zon, L.I., Eds.), Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 227-250.

Parker, S. K., & Detrich, H. W., III. (1998) Evolution, Organization, and Expression of Alpha-Tubulin Genes in the Antarctic Fish Notothenia coriiceps: Adaptive Expansion of a Gene Family by Recent Gene Duplication, Inversion, and Divergence. J. Biol. Chem. 273, 34358-34369.

Zhao, Y., Ratnayake-Lecamwasam, M., Parker, S. K., Cocca, E., Camardella, L., di Prisco, G., & Detrich, H. W., III. (1998) The Major Adult Alpha-Globin Gene of Antarctic Teleosts and Its Remnants in the Hemoglobinless Icefishes: Calibration of the Mutational Clock for Nuclear Genes. J. Biol. Chem. 273, 14745-14752.

Modig, C., Rutberg, M., Detrich, H. W., III, Billger, M., Stramberg, E., & Wallin, M. (1997) MAP0, a 400-kDa Microtubule Associated Protein Unique to Teleost Fish. Cell Motil. Cytoskel. 38, 258-269.

King, S. M., Marchese Ragona, S. P., Parker, S. K., & Detrich, H. W., III (1997) Inner- and Outer-Arm Axonemal Dyneins from the Antarctic Rockcod Notothenia coriiceps. Biochemistry 36, 1306-1314.

Malloy, K. D, Holman, M. A., Mitchell, b., & Detrich, H. W., III (1997) Solar UV-Induced DNA Damage and Photoenzymatic DNA Repair in Antarctic Zooplankton. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 94, 1258-1263.

Detrich, H.W., III, M.W. Kieran, F.Y. Chan, L.M. Barone, K. Yee, J.A. Runstadler, S. Pratt, D. Ransom, and L.I. Zon.  (1995)  Intra-embryonic hematopoietic cell migration during vertebrate development. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92: 10713-10717.

Cocca, E., M. Ratnayake-Lecamwasam, S.K. Parker, L. Camardella, M. Ciaramella, G. di Prisco, and H.W. Detrich, III.  (1995)  Genomic remnants of alpha-globin genes in the hemoglobinless antarctic icefishes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92: 1817-1821.

Books Edited

Detrich, H. W., III, Westerfield, M., & Zon, L. I., Eds. (2004) The Zebrafish: Cellular and Developmental Biology, Volume 76 of Methods in Cell Biology.  Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego.  632 pp. plus 36 pages of color plates.

Detrich, H. W., III, Westerfield, M., & Zon, L. I., Eds. (2004) The Zebrafish: Genetics, Genomics, and Informatics, Volume 77 of Methods in Cell Biology.  Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego.  686 pp. plus 26 pages of color plates.

National Academy of Sciences Report NRC (National Research Council). (2003) Frontiers in Polar Biology in the Genomic Era. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

Detrich, H.W., III, Westerfield, M., & Zon, L.I., Eds. (1999) The Zebrafish: Genetics and Genomics, Volume 60 of Methods in Cell Biology. Academic Press, San Diego. 396 pp. plus 11 pages of color plates.

Detrich, H.W., III, Westerfield, M., & Zon, L.I., Eds. (1999) The Zebrafish: Biology, Volume 59 of Methods in Cell Biology. Academic Press, San Diego. 391 pp. plus 23 pages of color plates.

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