Hans R. Bode

Picture of Hans R. Bode
Professor, Developmental & Cell Biology
School of Biological Sciences
PH.D., Yale University, 1966
Phone: (949) 824-5959, 5498
Fax: (949) 824-4709
Email: hrbode@uci.edu
University of California, Irvine
4242 McGaugh Hall
Mail Code: 2275
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
developmental biology (pattern formation, stem cell proliferation and differentiation); evolution of developmental processes; novel peptides affecting developmental processes; alternative animal model for toxicity testing; hydra
Research Abstract
Evidence is rapidly accumulating that the same genes are used by different organisms to regulate similar developmental processes. This raises the issue of the evolution of developmental mechanisms. Which mechanisms arose early and were conserved through evolution, and which arose later? Since coelenterates, of which hydra is a member, arose very early in metazoan evolution, the organism is strategically placed to examine this issue. Further, the processes governing pattern formation and cell fate determination are well understood in hydra at a tissue and cellular level. Because the body plan is simple, the patterning processes are few, and there is a reasonable chance of understanding the entire circuitry required underlying the pattern forming events in hydra in terms of signals and cell response genes. Similarly the cell-cell interactions governing stem cells that give rise to several differentiation products is well-understood. The current emphasis is on understanding the commitment of a stem cell to a particular cell fate. With the assumption that fundamental regulatory elements of development arose early in metazoan evolution, we are focusing on classes of transcription factors and signals known to play similar roles in higher metazoans. A number of homeobox genes have been isolated and their role in hydra patterning and cell fate processes are being characterized.
Publications
Bode, HR
The Head Organizer in Hydra
International Journal of Developmental Biology (2012?)
Bode, H
Axis Formation in Hydra [2011]
Annual Review of Genetics 45:105-117.
Chapman, J.A. et al
The Dynamic Genome of Hydra (2010)
Nature 464: 592-596
Gee, L., Hartig, J., Law, L., Wittlieb, J., Khalturin, Bosch, T.C.G., Bode, H.R.
?-catenin plays a central role in setting up the head organizer in hydra (2010)
Develomental Biology 340: 116-124.
Sosa-Ried, J., Hotz-Wagenblatt, A., Glatting, KH, del Val, C., Fellenberg, K., Bode, H.R.,
Frank, U., Hoheisel, J.D., Frohme, M. (2010).
The transcsriptome of the colonial marine hydroid Hydractinia echinata
FEBS J 277:197-207
Bode, H.R.
Axial Patterning in Hydra
Generation and Interpretation of Morphogen Gradients
Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology: published on line, July 1, 2009
doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a000463
Lengfeld, T., Watanabe, H., Simakov, O., Lindgens, D., Gee, L., Law, L., Schmidt, H.A..
Ozbek, S., Bode, H., Holstein, T.W. (2009)
Multiple Wnts are involved in Hydra organizer formation and regeneration.
Developmental Biology 330: 186-199
Bode, H., Lengfeld, T., Hobmayer, B., and Holstein, T.W. (2008).
Detection of expression patterns in Hydra pattern formation
Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 469: 69-84
Bielen H, Oberleitner S, Marcellini S, Gee L, Lemaire P, Bode HR, Rupp R, Technau U. (2007).
Divergent functions of two ancient Hydra Brachyury paralogues suggest specific roles for their
C-terminal domains in tissue fate induction.
Development 134:4187-97.
Grens, A., E. Mason, J.L. Marsh and H.R. Bode. 1995. Evolutionary conservation of a cell fate specification gene: the hydra achaete-scute homologue has proneural activity in Drosophila. Development, in press.
Shenk, M.A., L. Gee, R.E. Steele and H.R. Bode. 1993. Expression of Cnox-2, a HOM/HOX gene, is suppressed during head formation in Hydra. Dev. Bio. 160:108.
Bode, H.R. 1992. Continuous conversion of neuron phenotype in hydra. Trends Genet. 8:279.
Graduate Programs
Developmental Biology and Genetics
Last updated
01/24/2012