BSc. 1971, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Ph.D. 1989, University of California, San Diego, CA

Post Doctoral Training
1989-1991 Department of Biology, California Institute of Technology, CA

Affiliations
Cooperative Reproductive Science Research Center

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Spermatogenesis, Male Infertility, stem cell differentiation

Studies in our laboratory are aimed at elucidating the molecular mechanisms regulating spatial and temporal gene expression during spermatogenesis. The major experimental paradigm for these studies is the temporal expression of members of the LDH multigene family observed in differentiating germ cells in the mouse seminiferous epithelium. A detailed molecular analysis of the promoter regions of the LDH genes have identified the Sp-binding GC-box domains as the major regulatory
functional elements in differentiating germ cells. Sp-binding GC-box
regulatory domains are also present in the promoter regions of several other well characterized testis-specific genes including Pgk-2,Pdha and protamine. Recent studies in our laboratory have identified several temporally expressed transcripts that encode Sp transcription factor isoforms. Our current hypothesis is that these Sp isoforms in combination with stage and cell-tpye-specific coactivator and corepressor factors are most likely responsible for the spatial and temporal gene expression patterns observed during spermatogenesis.

Publications

Thomas K, Del Mazo J, Eversole P, Bellve A, Hiraoka Y, Li S-L, Simon M. Developmental regulation of expression of the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) multigene family during mouse spermatogenesis. Dev 109: 483-493,1990

Yang J and Thomas K. Molecular and functional characterization of the promoter region of the mouse LDH/C gene: enhancer-assisted, Sp-mediated transcriptional activation. Nucleic Acid Res 25: 2213-2220,1997

Yang J, Riley M, Thomas K. Cell-type transcription factor interactions with cis-elements present in the mouse LDH/C proximal promoter region. J Exp Zoology 282: 179-187, 1998.