Much research in the Lasko lab involves using Drosophila melanogaster to study the role of RNA-binding proteins and translational control in driving fundamental developmental processes. A long-term focus has been on vasa, which Prof. Lasko characterized as a postdoc, leading to the definition of the DEAD-box family of nucleic acid helicases (1,2). The Lasko lab has made many discoveries about how vasa functions in germ cell specification, embryonic patterning, and oogenesis, and how it regulates specific mRNAs (3-11). More recently, and in collaboration with Jean-Yves Roignant’s group (then in Mainz, now in Lausanne) we characterized Makorin-1 (12), which we had earlier found is also essential for embryonic patterning and germ cell specification (13). A makorin protein is implicated in human precocious puberty syndrome. In a long-term collaboration with Nahum Sonenberg’s group (McGill Biochemistry) we also have worked on cap binding proteins, linking eIF4E dysregulation to autism in a mouse model (14) discovering the role of an eIF4E inhibitor in embryonic patterning in flies (15,16), and elucidating the functions of two eIF4E cognates and an eIF4E binding protein in germ cell development (17-20). eIF4E has been linked to cancer as well as autism and clinical trials of several molecules that target it have been published.
We are dedicated to collaborative research. Our active partnerships include a collaboration with Nada Jabado (MUHC), Claudia Kleinman (Lady Davis Institute), Martin Hasselblatt (Münster), and Margret Shirinian (American University of Beirut) on using Drosophila to model effects of mutant histones implicated in pediatric high-grade gliomas (21,22). We also work with Ehab Abouheif (McGill Biology) on the role of the DNA damage response pathway in germline development and on the evolution and range of developmental mechanisms involved in oogenesis in Hymenoptera (23).
References
1. Lasko PF and Ashburner M (1988) Naturedoi: 10.1038/335611a0
2. Linder P, Lasko PF, Ashburner M, Leroy P, Nielsen PJ, Nishi K, Schnier J, and Slonimski PP (1989) Naturedoi: 10.1038/337121a0
3. Liang L, Diehl-Jones W, and Lasko P (1994) Development 120: 1201-1211.
4. Styhler S, Nakamura A, Swan A, Suter B, and Lasko P (1998) Development125: 1569-1578.
5. Carrera P, Johnstone O, Nakamura A, Casanova J, Jäckle H, and Lasko P (2000) Mol. Celldoi: 10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80414-1
6. Liu N, Dansereau DA, and Lasko P (2003) Curr. Biol.doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2003.10.026
7. Johnstone O and Lasko P (2004) Developmentdoi: 10.1242/dev.01286
8. Liu, N, Hong H, and Lasko P (2009) Genes Dev.doi: 10.1101/gad.1820709
9. Kugler JM, Woo JS, Oh BH, and Lasko P (2010) Mol. Cell. Biol.doi: 10.1128/MCB.01100-09
10. Dehghani M and Lasko P (2015) Biol. Openhttp://doi.org/10.1242/bio.201410579
11. Dehghani M and Lasko P (2016) Dev. Genes Evol.doi: 10.1007/s00427-016-0560-5
12. Dold A, Han H, Liu N, Hildebrandt A, Brüggemann M, Rücklé C, Hänel H, Busch A, Beli P, Zarnack K, König J, Roignant JY, and Lasko P(2020)PLoS Genet.http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1008581
13. Liu N and Lasko P (2015) G3http://doi.org/10.1534/g3.115.017517
14. Gkogkas CG, Khoutorsky A, Ran I, Rampakakis E, Nevarko T, Weatherill DB, Vasuta C, Yee S, Truitt M, Dallaire P, Major F, Lasko P, Ruggero D, Nader K, Lacaille JC, and Sonenberg N. (2013)Naturehttp://doi.org/10.1038/nature11628
15. Cho PF, Poulin F, Cho-Park YA, Cho-Park IB, Chicoine JD, Lasko P, and Sonenberg N (2005) Celldoi: 10.1016/j.cell.2005.02.024
16. Cho PF, Gamberi C, Cho-Park YA, Cho-Park IB, Lasko P, and Sonenberg N (2006) Curr. Biol. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.08.093
17. Hernández G, Han H, Gandin V, Fabian L, Ferreira T, Zuberek J, Sonenberg N, Brill JA, and Lasko P(2012) Developmentdoi: 10.1242/dev.073122
18. Hernández G, Miron M, Han H, Liu N, Magescas J, Tettweiler G, Frank F, Siddiqui N, Sonenberg N, and Lasko P (2013) Mol. Cell Biol.http://doi.org/10.1128/MCB.01354-12
19. Ghosh S and Lasko P (2015) PLoS Onehttp://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122519
20. Hernández G, García A, Sonenberg N, and Lasko P (2020) J. Mol. Biol.doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2020.10.035
21. Berlandi J, Chaouch A, De Jay N, Tegeder I, Thiel K, Shirinian M, Kleinman CL, Jeibmann A, Lasko P, Jabado N, and Hasselblatt M. (2019) Neuro-Oncologyhttp://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noz021
22. Chaouch A and Lasko P (2021) Flyhttp://doi.org/10.1080/19336934.2020.1863124
23. Ramsay C, Lasko P, and Abouheif E (2020) Evo-devo lessons from the reproductive division of labour in eusocial Hymenoptera. In: Evolutionary Developmental Biology–A Reference Guide (eds. Nuño de la Rosa, L. and Müller, G. B.), https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33038-9_173-1