Judith L. VanHouten

My interests center on chemoreception using Paramecium, a single-celled animal, as a model. These cells are like little swimming neurons and, like our neurons that detect odors or tastes, they respond to stimuli by membrane electrical changes.

We approach sensing of chemical stimuli on several levels:

membrane biochemistry to identify receptors and "signal transduction" components that turn a chemical stimulus signal into anelectrical one;
molecular genetics to clone genes for receptors and other proteins in chemoreception and to make predictable changes in the gene and protein sequences;
measurements of calcium and calcium metabolism by fluorescence and isotopic methods;
measurements of internal, second messengers such as cyclic nucleotides;
electrophysiology to characterize membrane electrical changes;
motion analysis to digitize normal and mutant swimming.

We are extending our expertise in plasma membrane calcium pumps (PMCAs) to mouse olfactory neurons. We have found 4 PMCAs in mouse olfactory neurons, and loss of PMCAs in knockout animals (courtesy of G. Shull) slows calcium clearance after stimulation.

Today, the Vermont Genetics Network is my pet project. Please visit.

Selected Publications

For a complete list of publications click here

S. Dilhan Weeraratne, Megan Valentine, Matthew Cusick, Rona Delay and Judith L. Van Houten (2006) Plasma Membrane Calcium Pumps in Mouse Olfactory Sensory Neurons, Chemical Senses Advance Access published on July 19, 2006. doi:10.1093/chemse/bjl014. (.pdf)
de Ondarza, J., Symington, S.B., Van Houten, J.L. and Clark, J. M. (2003) G-Protein Modulators Alter the Swimming Behavior and Calcium Influx of Paramecium tetraurelia, J. Euk. Microbiol.50: 349-355. (.pdf)
Yano, J., Rakochy, V. and Van Houten, J.L. (2003) Studies of GPI anchored proteins in chemosensory signaling using antisense manipulation of the Paramecium PIG-A gene expression Euk. Cell 2: 1211-1219. (.pdf)
Dessen, P., Zagulski, M., Gromadka, R., Plattner, H., Kissmehl, R., Meyer, B., Betermier, M., Schultz, J., Linder, J.U., Pearlman, R.E., Kung, C., Forney, J., Satir, B., Van Houten, J., Keller, A-M., Froissard, M., Sperling, L., Cohen, J. 2001. Paramecium genome survey: a pilot project. Trends in Genetics 17 306-308. (.pdf)
Paquette, C.A., V. Rakochy, A. Bush, and J.L. Van Houten. 2001. GPI anchored proteins in Paramecium tetraurelia: Possible role in chemoresponse. J. Exp. Biol. 204: 2899-2910 (.pdf)
Van Houten, J.L. 2000. Chemoreception in Microorganisms. In “Neurobiology of Taste and Smell.” Silver, Restrepo, Finger eds., Wiley, NY. Pg 11-40.
Van Houten, J.L., Yang, W.Q. and Bergeron, A. 2000. Glutamate chemosensory signal transduction in Paramecium. J. Nutrition 130: 946S-949S. (.pdf)
Symington, S., Zhang, A., Karstens, W., Van Houten, J.L., and Clark, J.M. 1999. Characterization of pyrethroid action on ciliary calcium channels in Paramecium tetraurelia. Pesticide Biochem. Physiol. 65: 181-193.
Van Houten, J.L. 1998. Chemosensory Transduction in Paramecium. Eur. J. Protistol. 34: 301-307.
Bell, W.E., W. Karstens, Y. Sun, and J.L. Van Houten. 1998. Biotin chemoresponse in Paramecium. J. Comp. Physiol. A. 183: 361-366. (.pdf)
Fraga, D., Yano, J., Reed, M., Chuang, R., Bell, W.E., Van Houten, J.L. and Hinrichsen, R. 1998. Introducing Antisense Oligonucleotides into Paramecium via electroporation. J. Euk. Microbiol. 45: 582-588
Davis, D., Fiekers, J., and J.L. Van Houten. 1998. Intracellular pH and chemoresponse to NH4 + Paramecium. Cell Motil. and the Cytoskeleton. 40: 107-118.
Yang, W.Q., Braun, C., Plattner, H., Purvee, J., and J.L. Van Houten. 1997. Cyclic nucleotides in glutamate chemosensory signal transduction of Paramecium. J. Cell Science 110:2567-2572. (.pdf)
Elwess, N.L., and J.L. Van Houten. 1997. Cloning and molecular analysis of the plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPase gene in P. tetraurelia. J. Euk. Microbiol. 44: 250-257.
Schlichtherle, M., Roos, D. and Van Houten, J.L. (1996) Cloning and molecular analysis of the dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase gene in P.tetraurelia. Molec. and Gen. Genetics 250: 665-673.
Yano, J., Fraga, D., Hinrichsen, R. and Van Houten, J.L. (1996) Effects of calmodulin antisense oligonucleotides on chemoresponse in Paramecium. Chem. Senses 21: 55-58. (.pdf)

Top Left: Paramecium tetraurelia. Top Right: Intracellular electrode recordings from cells in control or stimulus solutions.

Bottom Left: A polyacrylamide gel of the cAMP receptor eluting from a cAMP affinity column (Lanes 2 and 3).

Bottom middle: An agarose gel of control DNA and Paramecium DNA (lane 7) sheared for insertion into cloning vectors.

Judith L. Van Houten

My Research