Anthony Bretscher
Professor of Cell Biology
Associate Director of the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology

Phone

607-255-5713

Address

Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics
351 Biotechnology Building
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-2703

Email

Web Sites

Background

Tony Bretscher is a Professor of Cell Biology in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and is Associate Director of the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology (ICMB). He is a member of the Graduate Fields of Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology, and Genetics and Development. After training as a physicist at the University of Cambridge, he obtained his Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Leeds, studying gene regulation in E. coli. From there he went as an EMBO Fellow to the Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, where he worked with Dale Kaiser on the genetics of cell-cell interactions during development in Myxococcus xanthus. He then went as a Max Planck Society Fellow to the Department of Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Goettingen, Germany, where he began his studies in cell biology with Klaus Weber. In 1980 he was appointed to the faculty in the Cell Biology Department at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. He moved to Cornell in 1981. He has served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Biological Chemistry  and Molecular Biology of the Cell, and is currently on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Cell Biology and Journal of Cell Science. 

He is also an author of the new edition of the Lodish et al. Molecular Cell Biology textbook.   

Research Description

We are interested in the functional organization and regulation of microfilaments in eucaryotic cells. Microfilaments, which are composed of actin filaments and associated proteins, are involved in a host of functions, including the determination of cellular shape and providing the machinery for a variety of motile processes. We are using diverse biochemical, structural, genetic and cell biological approaches to investigate the general principles underlying microfilament structure and function in eucaryotic cells. Two major projects are underway. more

Selected Publications

Smith, W.J., Nassar, N., Bretscher, A., Cerione, R. A. & Karplus, P.A. (2003). Structure of the active FERM Domain of Ezrin: conformational and mobility changes identify keystone interactions.  J. Biol. Chem. 278, 4949-4956.

Bretscher A. (2003).  Polarized growth and organelle segregation in yeast - the tracks,  motors, and receptors. J. Cell Biol. 160, 811-816.

Dong, Y., Pruyne, D. & Bretscher, A. (2003). Two Rho pathways converge to regulate formin-dependent actin assembly in yeast.  J. Cell Biol. 161, 1081-1092.

Gundersen, G.G. & Bretscher, A. (2003). Microtubule asymmetry..  Science 300, 2040-2041.

Finnerty, C., Chambers, D., Ingraffea, J., Faber, H. R., Karplus, P. A. & Bretscher, A. (2004) The EBP50-moesin interaction: structural analysis of a binding site regulated by direct masking on the FERM domain. J. Cell Sci. 117, 1547-1552..

Tong AH, Lesage G, Bader GD, Ding H, Xu H, Xin X, Young J, Berriz GF, Brost RL, Chang M, Chen Y, Cheng X, Chua G, Friesen H, Goldberg DS, Haynes J, Humphries C, He G, Hussein S, Ke L, Krogan N, Li Z, Levinson JN, Lu H, Menard P, Munyana C, Parsons AB, Ryan O, Tonikian R, Roberts T, Sdicu AM, Shapiro J, Sheikh B, Suter B, Wong SL, Zhang LV, Zhu H, Burd CG, Munro S, Sander C, Rine J, Greenblatt J, Peter M, Bretscher A, Bell G, Roth FP, Brown GW, Andrews B, Bussey H, Boone C.  (2004)  Global mapping of the yeast genetic interaction network. Science 303, 808-13

Nawrot, M., West, K., Huang, J., Possin, D. E., Bretscher, A., Crabb, J. W and Saari, J. C. (2004). Cellular retinaldehyde-binding protein interacts with ERM-binding phosphoprotein 50 in retinal pigment epithelium. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 45(2):393-401.

Pruyne, D., Legesse-Miller, A., Gao, L., Dong, Y. & Bretscher, A. (2004) Mechanisms of polarized growth and organelle segregation in yeast. Ann. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 20, 559-591.

Pruyne, D., Gao., L., Bi., E. & Bretscher A. (2004) Stable and dynamic axes of polarity utilize distinct forming isoforms in budding yeast..  Mol. Biol. Cell, 15, 4971-4989.

Hayashi, H., Szászi1, K., Coady-Osberg, N., Furuya, W., Bretscher, A. P., Orlowski, J., & Grinstein, S. (2004). Inhibition and Redistribution of NHE3, the Apical Na+/H+ Exchanger, by Clostridium difficile Toxin B. J. Gen. Physiol. 123, 491-504.

Chambers, D. & Bretscher, A. (2005). Ezrin mutants affecting dimerization and activation. Biochemistry, 44, 3926-3932.

Bretscher, A. (2005) Microtubule tips redirect actin assembly. Dev. Cell 8, 458-459.

Legesse-Miller, A., Zhang S, Santiago-Tirado, F. H. , Van Pelt, C. K, Bretscher, A. (2006). Regulated Phosphorylation of Budding Yeast's Essential Myosin-V Heavy Chain, Myo2p.   Mol. Cell Biol. 17, 1812-1821.

Hanono, A., Garbett, D., Reczek, D., Chambers, D. N. & Bretscher, A. (2006). EPI64 regulates microvillar sub-domains and structure. J. Cell Biol. 175, 803-813.

Li, Q., Nance, M. R., Kulikauskas, R., Nyberg, K., Fehon, R., P., Karplus, P. A., Bretscher, A. & Tesmer, J. J. G. (2006). Self-masking in an intact ERM-merlin protein: an active role for the central a-helical domain. J. Mol. Biol. 365,1446-59

Bruce, B., Khanna, G. , Landberg, G., Jirström, K., Powell, C., Borczuk, A., Keller, E.T., Wojno, K.J., Meltzer, P., Baird, K., McClatchey, A., Bretscher, A., Hewitt, S. M. & Khanna, C. (2007). Expression of the Cytoskeleton Linker Protein Ezrin in Human Cancers. Clinical and Experimental Metastasis 24, 69-78.

Amin, N.M., Hu, K., Pruyne, D., Terzic, D., Bretscher, A., Liu, J. (2007) A Zn-finger/FH2-domain containing protein, FOZI-1, acts redundantly with CeMyoD to specify striated body wall muscle fates in the Caenorhabditis elegans postembryonic mesoderm. Development. 134:19-29.

Click here for Dr. Bretscher's PubMed listing.