Light-mediated Reversible Modulation of the Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Pathway during Cell Differentiation and Xenopus Embryonic Development

The overall goal of this experiment is to use light to control the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway in intact cells and in Xenopus embryos. This method can help answer key questions in cellular and developmental biology, such as how temporal modulations of kinase activity regulates self-determination during cell differentiation, and embryonic development. The main advantage of this technique is that the mitogen-activated protein kinase activity can be controlled reversibly in intact cells and in multicellular organisms, such as developing embryos.

This method can provide insight into signaling kinetics during Xenopus embryonic developments. It can also be applied to other model systems such as socotra, zebrafish, or mouse. Today, a graduate student from my laboratory, Vishnu Krishnamurthy, will demonstrate the procedure.