Associate Professor Dagmar Wilhelm
Our laboratory studies mechanisms of gene regulation during embryonic development focussing on the development of mouse embryonic gonads as a model system.
One of the most amazing biological processes is the development of a fertilized egg into a complex organism. It involves the orchestration of cellular processes, which is controlled by a delicate network of gene regulation. Disturbance of this network during development results in malformation and malfunction of organs, diseases such as cancer, and often lethality. To really understand embryogenesis and its related diseases it is essential to integrate all levels of gene regulation, i.e. transcriptional control, post-transcriptional mechanisms such as mRNA stability, splicing, and editing, translational control and post-translational modifications. One novel regulatory mechanism is the regulation of gene expression by non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). We are elucidating the function of protein-coding and non-coding RNAs using a series of in vitro, ex vivo and and in vivo studies, integrating cell biology, developmental biology, biochemistry, mouse genetics and proteomics. The main research areas include: the role of miRNAs in testis development, the role of long ncRNAs in testicular and ovarian differentiation, and molecular and cellular analysis of mouse ovary development.
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Research Group
Postdoctoral Fellows
James Palmer (currently at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience)
PhD Students
Elanor Wainwright (currently at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience)
Grants
ARC Future Fellowship
Towards a new understanding of the development of the reproductive system (2012-2015)
NHMRC project grants
MicroRNA regulation of sex determination and gonad development (2010-2012) Cellular and molecular regulation of fetal ovary devellopment (2007-2009)
ARC Discovery grants
A new paradigm of gene regulation - Implications in embryogenesis and disease (2008-2011)
Publications
2012
Chen H*, Palmer JS*, Thiagarajan RD, Dinger ME, Lesieur E, Chiu H, Schulz A, Spiller C, Grimmond SM, Little MH, Koopman P, and Wilhelm D (2012). Identification of novel markers of mouse fetal ovary development. PLoS ONE, accepted June 25 (*equal first author)
Ludbrook L, Bernard P, Bagheri-Fam S, Ryan J, Sekido R, Wilhelm D, Lovell-Badge R and Harley V (2012). Excess DAX1 leads to XY ovotesticular Disorder of Sex Development (DSD) in mice by inhibiting Steroidogenic Factor-1 (SF1) activation of the testis enhancer of SRY-box-9 (Sox9). Endocrinol 153, 1948-1958
Katoh-Fukui Y, Miyabayashi K, Komatsu T, Owaki A, Baba T, Shima Y, Kidokoro T, Kanai Y, Schedl A, Wilhelm D, Koopman P, Okuno Y, and Morohashi K (2012). Cbx2, a polycomb group gene, is required for Sry gene expression in mice. Endocrinol 153, 913-924
Palmer JS and Wilhelm D (2012). Sex Determination, Mouse. In: Encyclopedia of Genetics, 2nd edn. Elsevier Ltd., Oxford
2011
McFarlane L, Svingen T, Braasch I, Koopman P, Schartl M and Wilhelm D (2011). Expansion of the Ago gene family in the teleost clade. Dev Genes Evol 221, 95-104
Mercer TR*, Wilhelm D*, Dinger ME*, Solda G*, Korbie DJ, Glazov EA, Truong V, Schwenke M, Matthaei KI, Saint R, Koopman P and Mattick JS (2011). Expression of distinct RNAs from 3' untranslated regions. Nucl Acid Res 39, 2293-2403 (*equal first author)
Ryan J, Ludbrook L, Wilhelm D, Sinclair A, Koopman P, Bernard P and Harley VR (2011). Delivery of DNA by nucleofection into cultured embryonic mouse gonads. Sex Dev 5, 7-15
Koopman P and Wilhelm D (2011). SRY, Sex Determination and Gonadal Differentiation. In: eLS 2011, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, DOI:10.1002/9780470015902.a0001144.pub3
Kashimada K, Pelosi E, Chen H, Schlessinger D, Wilhelm D and Koopman P (2011). FOXL2 and BMP2 act cooperatively to regulate follistatin 1 gene expression during ovarian development. Endocrinol 152, 272-280
Wilhelm D and Koopman P (2011). Insights into the aetiology of ovotesticular DSD from studies of mouse ovotestes. Adv Exp Med Biol 707, 55-56
2010
Ewen K, Jackson A, Wilhelm D and Koopman P (2010). A male-specific role for p38 mitogen- activated protein kinase in germ cell sex differentiatiom in mice. Biol Reprod 83, 1005-1014
Wainwright EN, and Wilhelm D (2010). The game plan: Cellular and molecular mechanisms of mammalian testis development. Curr Top Dev Biol 90, 231-262
Abramyan J, Wilhelm D, and Koopman P (2010). Molecular Characterization of the Bidder's Organ in the Cane Toad (Bufo marinus). J Exp Zool, Part B-Mol Dev Evol 314, 503-513
McFarlane L, and Wilhelm D (2010). Non-coding RNA in mammalian sexual development. Sex Dev 3, 302-316
Combes AN, Spiller CM, Harley VR, Sinclair AH, Dunwoodie SL, Wilhelm D and Koopman P (2010). Gonadal defects in Cited2-mutant mice indicate a role for SF1 in both testis and ovarian differentiation. Int J Dev Biol 54, 683-689
