Jim O. Vigoreaux

Our lab is interested in the structural and functional properties of muscles that power oscillatory systems, namely the insect flight muscle and the vertebrate cardiac muscle. We use classical and molecular genetic approaches to study the function of various contractile proteins of the indirect flight muscles (IFM) of Drosophila melanogaster. Our goal is to understand how individual proteins contribute to the structural stability and mechanical properties of the muscle fiber, and to the function of the flight system. This research combines biochemical techniques to analyze protein function, cell imaging techniques to analyze muscle ultrastructure, bioengineering techniques to analyze muscle mechanical properties, and entire flight system measurements. The second area of interest is thin filament regulation of cardiac muscle contraction. A major goal of this research is to understand how changes in phosphorylation of troponin I affect the contractile properties of the heart.

Selected Publications

• Barton, B., Ayer, G., Heymann, G. Maughan, D. Lehmann, F., and Vigoreaux, J. O. (2005) Flight muscle properties and aerodynamic performance of Drosophila expressing a flightin transgene. J. Exp. Biol., 208: 549-560.

• Swank, D. and Vigoreaux, J. O. (2004) The Development of the Flight and Leg Muscle. In Comprehensive Molecular Insect Science. Volume 2, 45-84. Gilbert, L.I., Iatrou, K., and Gill, S. editors. Elsevier, Oxford.

• Henkin, J., Maughan, D. W. and Vigoreaux, J. O. (2004) Mutations that affect flightin expression in Drosophila alter the viscoelastic properties of flight muscle fibers. Amer. J. Physiol., Cell Physiol., 286: C65-C72.

• Nongthomba, U., Cummins, M, Clark, S., Vigoreaux, J. O., and Sparrow, J. C. (2003) Suppression of the muscle hypercontraction phenotype by mutations in the myosin heavy chain gene of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 164: 209-222.

• Vigoreaux, J. O. (2001) Genetics of the Drosophila flight muscle myofibril: A window into the biology of complex systems. BioEssays 23: 1047-1063.

• Reedy, M. C., Bullard, B., and Vigoreaux, J. O. (2000) Flightin is essential for thick filament assembly and sarcomere stability in Drosophila flight muscles. J. Cell Biol. 151: 1483-1500.

• Moore, J. R., Dickinson, M. H., Vigoreaux, J. O., and Maughan, D. W. (2000) Removal of the 46 amino acid N-terminal extension of the Drosophila myosin regulatory light chain has little effect on the stretch activation response of the indirect flight muscles. Biophys J. 78: 1431-1440.

• Maughan, D. W. and Vigoreaux, J. O. (1999) An integrative view of insect flight muscle: genes, motor molecules and motion. News In Physiol. Science. 14, 87-92.

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