Dr. Beth Stronach

Genetics
K. Arndt
T.-L. Ashman
G. Campbell
D. Chapman
G. Hatfull
J. Hildebrand
L. Jacobson
S. Kalisz
J. Martens
W. Saunders
B. Stronach
S. Tonsor
R. Wood

Microbiology
J. Boyle
G. Hatfull
R. Hendrix
J. Lawrence
J. Pipas
M. Popa
R.L. Duda
S. Godfrey
V. Oke

Molecular Biology
K. Arndt
J. Franzen
P. Grabowski
G. Hatfull
R. Hendrix
L. Jen-Jacobson
J. Martens
C. Peebles
J. Pipas
J. Rosenberg
A. Schwacha
C. Walsh

Plant Biology
T.-L. Ashman
W. Carson
S. Kalisz
V. Oke
C. Partanen
S. Tonsor
B. Traw

Science Education
A. Bledsoe
K. Curto
L. Daniels
S. Godfrey
N. Kaufmann
C. LaFave
J. Newman
E. Polinko
M. Popa
L. Roberts
T. Seiflein
R. Sherwin
A. Slinskey Legg

Structural Biology
M. Grabe
J. Hempel
R. Hendrix
L. Jen-Jacobson
J. Rosenberg
A. VanDemark

Former Faculty

Photo of Dr.
Stronach

Signal Transduction and Morphogenesis

Assistant Professor

Dr. Stronach received her Ph.D. in 1997 with Mary Beckerle at the University of Utah, performed postdoctoral studies with Norbert Perrimon at Harvard Medical School, and joined the Department in 2002.

Currently, Dr. Stronach is accepting graduate students in her laboratory. Dr. Stronach is accepting undergraduate researchers, and does sponsor students in other laboratories.

Professional Interests - Publications - Contact Information - Lab Personnel

Professional Interests of Beth Stronach

Fig. 1. MLK/Slpr and JNK signaling pathway

Large-scale morphogenetic movements of cells create three-dimensional structure or 'morphology' in developing embryos by changing the spatial relationship between cells over time. My interest lies in understanding signaling pathways that control morphogenesis. In particular:

What are the signals that regulate the initiation and completion of tissue movements?
How do signal transduction events modulate the cytoskeleton to drive tissue rearrangements?
How do signaling pathways that are reutilized during development confer specific morphogenetic responses?

My lab uses molecular genetic approaches in the fruit fly, Drosophila, to understand the regulation of tissue morphogenesis. Specifically, we are investigating the functions of the Jun N-terminal Kinase (JNK) signal transduction pathway (Figure 1) in tissue closure. Use of the JNK pathway to control fundamental cell behaviors is widespread in metazoans. Indeed in humans, dysregulation of JNK pathway activity is implicated in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases (asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, IBD), metabolic diseases (diabetes, obesity), neurodegenerative diseases (alzheimer's, huntington's, parkinson's, stroke), and cancer.

As an entry point to study developmentally regulated JNK signaling, my lab investigates the function of Drosophila Mixed Lineage Kinase (MLK), encoded by the slipper (slpr) locus. Slpr has JNK kinase kinase activity and we have recently shown that Slpr is required for many morphogenetic events during the life cycle of Drosophila, including embryonic dorsal closure, adult thorax closure, eggshell appendage outgrowth during oogenesis and adult male genital morphogenesis (Figure 2).

Fig. 2. Defects in adult metamorphosis in slpr mutants. A-E Normal adult fly tissues. A'-E' slpr mutant males with defects in wing inflation, abdominal closure, thorax closure, genital eversion and rotation, and palp extension.

Using slpr mutants and transgene overexpression, we can manipulate the levels of Slpr-dependent JNK activity. This will allow us to:

determine how precise levels of JNK activity control cell behavior and tissue shape
identify modifiers of JNK signaling through a genetic enhancer/suppressor screen
develop reagents to visualize activation and localization of the JNK pathway in vivo
investigate how developmental context influences signal transduction to elicit particular cell responses
characterize functional domains of Slpr kinase to understand how mixed lineage kinases are localized and activated in vivo

Ultimately, we hope to understand at the molecular level how organisms control developmental and 'inducible' morphogenetic movements, such as dorsal closure and wound healing. This work may also provide insight into genetic regulation of JNK signal transduction addressing the plethora of diseases associated with altered JNK activity.

Publication Archive
14 Citations
13 Abstracts
11 PDFs

Recent Publications of Beth Stronach

Selva, E.M., and B.E. Stronach (2007) Germline clone analysis for maternally acting Drosophila hedgehog components. Methods Mol. Biol. 397:129-144

Polaski, S., L. Whitney, B.W. Barker, and B. Stronach (2006) Genetic analysis of Slipper/Mixed lineage kinase reveals requirements in multiple JNK-dependent morphogenetic events during Drosophila development. Genetics 174:719-733 (PDF Reprint: 3.9 MB)

Stronach, B. (2005) Dissecting JNK signaling, one KKKinase at a time. Dev. Dynam. 232:575-584 (PDF Reprint: 270 kb)

Stronach, B., and N. Perrimon (2003) JNK pathway in Drosophila morphogenesis. Pp 783-787 in Handbook of Cell Signaling, Bradshaw, R.A., and E. Dennis, Ed. Acaademic Press, San Diego, CA

Renfranz, P.J., S.E. Siegrist, B.E. Stronach, T. Macalma, and M.C. Beckerle (2003) Molecular and phylogenetic characterization of Zyx102, a Drosophila orthologue of the zyxin family that interacts with Drosophila Enabled. Gene 305:13-26 (PDF Reprint: 1.2 MB)

Tan, C., B. Stronach, and N. Perrimon (2003) Roles of myosin phosphatase during Drosophila development. Development 130:671-681 (PDF Reprint: 1.2 MB)

Stronach, B., and N. Perrimon (2002) Activation of the JNK pathway during dorsal closure in Drosophila requires the mixed lineage kinase, slipper. Genes Dev. 16:377-387 (PDF Reprint: 692 kb)

Nie, W., B. Stronach, G. Panganiban, T. Shippy, S. Brown, and R. Denell (2001) Molecular characterization of Tclabial and the 3' end of the Tribolium homeotic complex. Dev. Genes Evol. 211:244-251 (PDF Reprint: 354 kb)

Stronach, B.E., and N. Perrimon (2001) Investigation of leading edge formation at the interface of amnioserosa and dorsal ectoderm in the Drosophila embryo. Development 128:2905-2913 (PDF Reprint: 2.8 MB)

Hong, Y., B. Stronach, N. Perrimon, L.Y. Jan, and Y.N. Jan (2001) Drosophila Stardust interacts with Crumbs to control polarity of epithelia but not neuroblasts. Nature 414:634-638 (PDF Reprint: 477 kb)

How to Contact Beth Stronach

US Mail
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Biological Sciences
202A Life Sciences Annex
4249 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Phone, FAX, Internet
Office : (412) 648-7658
Lab : (412) 648-4666
FAX : (412) 624-4759
Email : stronach+@pitt.edu
Web :

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