Research
Overview
I study muscle differentiation, disease and regulation of contraction using the Drosophila flight and jump muscles as model systems. My lab use molecular genetics (including transgenics), cell biology and biochemistry to determine the molecular details of these processes. Major goals are to understand the differentiation (assembly) of the muscle sarcomere and molecular details of the regulation of muscle contraction by calcium and the troponin-tropomyosin complex. We use the flight muscles as a good system for genetic, cell biological, biochemical and biophysical approaches to muscle biology as they are large (relatively!) to study human mutations that cause congenital myopathies.
Discoveries
That in Drosophila muscle human actin mutants show all aspects of the human disease, and one late-onset disease mutant is caused by reduced mechanical strength of sarcomeres
Research group(s)
| Status | Name | Project |
|---|
| Honorary Fellow p/t 50% |
Dr Adam Middleton |
Cell biology of muscle development/function |
| Visiting Professor f/t |
Prof Belinda Bullard |
PI. Molecular biology of insect muscle proteins and their assembly into the sarcomere |
Publications
Selected publications
Sparrow, J.C. and Schöck, F. (2009) "The initial steps of myofibril assembly: integrins pave the way" Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 293-298.
Laing N.G., Dye D.E., Wallgren-Pettersson C., Richard G., Monnier N., Lillis S., Winder T.L., Lochmuller H., Graziano C., Mitrani-Rosenbaum S., Twomey D., Sparrow J.C., Beggs A.H., Nowak K.J. (2009) Mutations and polymorphisms of the skeletal muscle alpha-actin gene (ACTA1). Human Mutation 30, 1267-1277.
Haigh S.E., Salvi S.S., Sevdali M., Stark M., Goulding D., Clayton J.D., Bullard B., Sparrow, J.C., Nongthomba U. (2010) Drosophila indirect flight muscle specific Act88F actin mutants as a model system for studying congenital myopathies of the human ACTA1 skeletal muscle actin gene. Neuromuscular Disorders. 20, 363-374.
Vikhorev P.G., Vikhoreva N.N., Cammarato A.C., Sparrow J.C. (2010). In vitro motility of native thin filaments from Drosophila indirect flight muscles reveals that the held-up-2 TnI mutation affects calcium activation. J. Muscle Research and Cell Motility 31(3), 171-179.
