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Mariana Wolfner

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Molecular biologist
Mariana Wolfner
BornMariana Federica Wolfner
Alma materCornell University (BS)
Stanford University (PhD)
AwardsMember of the National Academy of Sciences (2019)
Genetics Society of America Medal (2018)
Scientific career
FieldsReproductive biology
Drosophila genetics
Early embryogenesis
Seminal proteins
InstitutionsCornell University
University of California, San Diego
ThesisEcdysone-responsive genes of the salivary gland of Drosophila melanogaster (1980)
Doctoral advisorDavid Hogness
Websitembg.cornell.edu/people/mariana-wolfner

Mariana Federica Wolfner is the Goldwin Smith Professor of molecular biology and genetics at Cornell University. Her research investigates sexual conflict in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2019 in recognition of her distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Early life and education

Wolfner became interested in biology as a child. She decided to study at Cornell University because it was well known for genetics. During her undergraduate degree she worked in Gerald Fink's laboratory, studying the control of amino acids in yeast, and graduated in 1974. She moved to Stanford University for her graduate degree, where she was a doctoral student in the lab of David Hogness. She was one of the first to use recombinant DNA to isolate the genes in Drosophila. Wolfner pioneered the use of cDNA hybridisation to isolate the genes which respond to ecdysone during metamorphosis.

Research and career

Wolfner joined University of California, San Diego for a postdoctoral fellowship under the supervision of Bruce Baker. Here she started to study the genes that are involved in sex determination of Drosophila. With Baker, Wolfner cloned the doublesex gene.

Wolfner joined the faculty at Cornell University in 1983. She has explored the mechanisms that are responsible for sex determination and development in Drosophila. Wolfner has identified over two hundred of the drosophila seminal fluid proteins and their influence on physiology and behaviour. She performed genetic ablation to identify the genes that encoded seminal fluid proteins. She found that female drosophila store semen for a while before fertilisation, and become less interested in males after mating. Wolfner found that during mating the seminal fluid proteins that were created in male accessory glands were transferred to females, and caused postmating changes. She spent two years at the University of California, San Diego working on mutant phenotypes in seminal fluid proteins.

In her extensive studies of the seminal fluid proteins of Drosophila, Wolfner has uncovered new information about sexual conflict. She showed that seminal fluid proteins that increase the egg-laying rate of females are beneficial for males, but can reduce the lifespan of the female drosophila. Apc26Aa is one of the seminal fluid proteins that can cause these postmating changes in female drosophila. She found that seminal fluid proteins can act as switches that activate physiology in the mated females. Wolfner works with Laura Harrington on the identification of seminal fluid proteins in mosquitoes that are responsible for the transmission of the Zika and dengue viruses.

She also works on the egg-to-embryo transition, after the oocyte is released and before it is activated to begin embryogenesis. Wolfner demonstrated that the egg-to-embryo transition is not the same in drosophila and mammals. In drosophila, the oocyte is squeezed into the oviduct, whereas in mammals the sperm triggers the transition. She showed that the activation process in drosophila involves a spike of calcium, which triggers downstream pathways.

She was appointed the Goldwin Smith Professor of Molecular Biology & Genetics in Cornell University in 2013.

Awards and honours

References

  1. ^ Mariana Wolfner publications indexed by Google Scholar Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ "Two biologists elected to National Academy of Sciences". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  3. "2019 NAS Election". www.nasonline.org.
  4. ^ Haloupek N (2018). "Mariana Wolfner: 2018 Genetics Society of America Medal". Genetics. 210 (4): 1139–1141. doi:10.1534/genetics.118.301772. PMC 6283159. PMID 30523164.
  5. ^ "Mariana Wolfner receives Genetics Society of America Medal". as.cornell.edu. 5 February 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  6. "FlyTree - David S. Hogness". academictree.org. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  7. "234: Dr. Mariana Wolfner: Egg-cell-ent Research in Reproduction, Fertilization, and Embryonic Development". People Behind the Science Podcast. 2015-03-20. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  8. Ram KR, Wolfner MF (2009). "A network of interactions among seminal proteins underlies the long-term postmating response in Drosophila". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 106 (36): 15384–9. doi:10.1073/pnas.0902923106. PMC 2741260. PMID 19706411.
  9. ^ "Fruit flies go to work on an egg". www.newscientist.com. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  10. Kalb JM, DiBenedetto AJ, Wolfner MF (1993). "Probing the function of Drosophila melanogaster accessory glands by directed cell ablation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 90 (17): 8093–7. Bibcode:1993PNAS...90.8093K. doi:10.1073/pnas.90.17.8093. PMC 47294. PMID 8367469.
  11. "Society for Developmental Biology". Society for Developmental Biology. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  12. "NSF Award Search: Award#9753006 - POWRE: Genetic and In Vitro Investigations of Drosophila Reproductive Proteins". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  13. Chapman T, Liddle LF, Kalb JM, Wolfner MF, Partridge L (January 1995). "Cost of mating in Drosophila melanogaster females is mediated by male accessory gland products". Nature. 373 (6511): 241–4. Bibcode:1995Natur.373..241C. doi:10.1038/373241a0. PMID 7816137. S2CID 4336339.
  14. "Mariana Wolfner". Cornell University. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  15. Wolfner MF (March 1997). "Tokens of love: functions and regulation of Drosophila male accessory gland products". Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 27 (3): 179–92. doi:10.1016/S0965-1748(96)00084-7. PMID 9090115.
  16. Sirot LK, Hardstone MC, Helinski ME, Ribeiro JM, Kimura M, Deewatthanawong P, Wolfner MF, Harrington LC (March 2011). "Towards a semen proteome of the dengue vector mosquito: protein identification and potential functions". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 5 (3): e989. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000989. PMC 3057948. PMID 21423647.
  17. ^ "Mariana Wolfner". Cornell University. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  18. "2006 AAAS Fellows" (PDF). AAAS. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  19. "The Kendall S. Carpenter Advising Award". Cornell University. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  20. "Four faculty members receive Carpenter advising awards 2012". Cornell Chronicle. June 11, 2012. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  21. "The Al Downe Lecture - Queen's Biology Department". biology.queensu.ca. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  22. "Winners of the Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology". Entomological Society of America. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
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