Gad Shaulsky, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics
Other Positions
Professor, Programs in Developmental Biology, Cell & Molecular Biology, and Structural & Computational Biology, and Molecular Biophysics
Director, Graduate Program in Molecular and Human Genetics
Faculty Member, W.M. Keck Center for Computational and Structural Biology
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Rice University
Education
B.S., Tel Aviv University, Israel, 1985
M.S., Tel Aviv University, Israel, 1986
Ph.D., Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, 1991
Postdoc, University of California, San Diego, 1997
Research Interests
Functional genomics: We have used microarrays to discover gene function in development (Van Driessche et al., 2002), de-differentiation (Katoh et al., 2004), spore germination (Xu et al., 2004), drug resistance (Van Driessche et al., 2007) and in chemotaxis (Booth et al., 2005; Mendoza et al., 2007). We also showed that the microarray is a good phenotyping tool for discovering epistatic relationships between genes in the cAMP-dependent Protein Kinase regulatory pathway (Van Driessche et al., 2005). In collaboration with Dr. Adam Kuspa, we are generating insertional mutations in most Dictyostelium genes. We are using the mutants to discover gene function by parallel phenotyping and by expression analysis. We are currently focusing on the function of ABC transporter proteins in Dictyostelium development. Recently, we have switched to using RNA-sequencing as our main platform for transcriptional profiling and we are now comparing the developmental transcriptomes of D. discoideum and D. purpureum.
Self-recognition in Dictyostelium. Two strains, labeled in green and red, segregate from each other during the aggregation phase of development thanks to a novel self-recognition mechanism. Photography: Shigenori Hirose.
The evolution of social behavior in Dictyostelium: Social organisms must deal with cheaters - individuals that reap the benefits of sociality without paying the costs. In Dictyostelium, some cells sacrifice themselves to benefit other cells that may be genetically different, providing a fertile ground for cheating. In collaboration with Drs. Strassmann and Queller at Rice University and with Dr. Adam Kuspa at BCM, we found over 100 genes that participate in social interactions (Santorelli et al., 2008). We are using genetic tools to find and characterize additional genes that determine social decisions, find whether they are involved in rapid-evolutionary arms races, and test how cooperators resist cheating (Foster et al., 2004; Khare and Shaulsky, 2006; Khare et al., in press).
Allorecognition in Dictyostelium: Multicellular organisms can distinguish self from non-self through various mechanisms. We have found that D. discoideum cells preferentially cooperate with their relatives (Ostrowski et al., 2008), possibly reducing their exposure to strains that can cheat on them. We are now investigating the molecular mechanisms that underlie kin discrimination. We found two cell-cell adhesion genes, lagB1 and lagC1, that are highly polymorphic in natural populations and are required for allorecognition (Benabentos et al., 2009). We are currently performing gene replacement experiments to test whether the sequence polymorphism in these genes is sufficient to explain allorecognition in this system.
Data Mining: We are collaborating with Dr. Blaz Zupan and his group at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia to develop new concepts in genetic analysis. Together we have developed a tool that performs automated epistasis analysis, GenePath. We also developed a tool that analyzes regulatory sequences in eukaryotic promoters. We are currently developing DictyExpress, a web tool that can access and analyze our transcriptional profiling data.
Selected Publications
- Khare A, Santorelli LA, Strassmann JE, Queller DC, Kuspa A, Shaulsky G (2009). Cheater-resistance is not futile. Nature, in press.
- Benabentos R, Hirose S, Sucgang R, Curk T, Katoh M, Ostrowski EA, Strassmann JE, Queller DC, Zupan B, Shaulsky G, Kuspa A (2009). Polymorphic Members of the lag Gene Family Mediate Kin Discrimination in Dictyostelium. Curr. Biol. 19(7): 567-572. [Pub Med]
- Ostrowski EA, Katoh M, Shaulsky G, Queller DC, Strassmann JE (2008). Kin discrimination increases with genetic distance in a social amoeba. PLoS Biol. 6(11): e287. [Pub Med]
- Santorelli LA, Thompson CRL, Villegas E, Svetz J, Dinh C, Parikh A, Sucgang R, Kuspa A, Strassmann JE, Queller DC, Shaulsky G (2008). Facultative cheater mutants reveal the genetic complexity of cooperation in social amoebae. Nature 451(7182): 1107-10. [Pub Med]
- Van Driessche N, Alexander H, Min J, Kuspa A, Alexander S, Shaulsky G (2007). Global Transcriptional Responses to Cisplatin in Dictyostelium discoideum Identify Potential Drug Targets. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104(39): 15406-11. [Pub Med]
- Khare A, Shaulsky G (2006). First Among Equals: competition between genetically identical cells. Nat. Rev. Genet. 7(7): 577-83. [Pub Med]
- Booth EO, Van Driessche N, Zhuchenko O, Kuspa A, Shaulsky G (2005). Microarray Phenotyping in Dictyostelium Reveals a Regulon of Chemotaxis Genes. Bioinformatics 21(24): 4371-7. [Pub Med]
- Van Driessche N, Demsar J, Booth EO, Hill P, Juvan P, Zupan B, Kuspa A, Shaulsky G (2005). Epistasis analysis with global transcriptional phenotypes. Nat. Genet. 37(5): 471-7. [Pub Med]
- Foster K, Shaulsky G, Strassmann J, Queller D, Thompson C (2004). Multiple effects of a single gene promote cooperation. Nature 431(7009): 693-6. [Pub Med]
Awards and Honors
2006: Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Excellence in Research Award
2000-2002: Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar (March of Dimes)
Contact Information
Gad Shaulsky, Ph.D.
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza, MS BCM225
Houston, TX, 77030, U.S.A.
Phone: 713-798-8082
Fax: 713-798-1021
E-mail: