Jack R. Bateman

Assistant Professor

Spring 2009

  • Advanced Genetics and Epigenetics (BIO 314)
  • ADVANCED INDEPENDENT STUDY (BIO 401)
Phone (207) 725-3021
Title Assistant Professor
Department BIOLOGY
Work Location 230C Druckenmiller Hall
E-Mail jbateman@bowdoin.edu
Jack R. Bateman: Bowdoin College: Biology

Education

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
Ph.D. in Cellular and Developmental Biology Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School
B.Sc. in Biology Dalhousie University

Recent Publications

Griffin, R., Sustar, A., Bonvin, M., Binari, R., del Valle Rodriguez, A., Hohl, A.M., Bateman, J.R., Villalta, C., Heffern, E., Grunwald, D., Bakal, C., Desplan, C., Schubiger, G., Wu, C.T., Perrimon, N. 2009. The twin spot generator for differential Drosophila lineage analysis. Nature Methods 6: 600-602.

Bateman, J.R., and Wu, C.-t. 2008. A genomewide survey argues that every zygotic gene product is dispensable for the initiation of somatic homolog pairing in Drosophila. Genetics 180: 1329-1342. (Featured in Issue Highlights).

Bateman, J.R., and Wu. C.-t. 2008. A simple polymerase chain reaction-based method for the construction of RMCE donor vectors. Genetics 180: 1763-1766.

Williams, B.R., Bateman, J.R., Novikov, N.D.*, and Wu, C.-t. 2007. Disruption of Topoisomerase II perturbs pairing in Drosophila cell culture. Genetics 177: 31-46.

Bateman, J.R., and Wu, C.-t. 2007. DNA replication and models for the origin of piRNAs. Bioessays 29: 382-385.

Bateman, J.R., Lee, A.M., and Wu, C.-t. 2006. Site-specific transformation of Drosophila via phiC31integrase-mediated cassette exchange. Genetics 173: 769-777.

Research

When we think of gene expression, we usually envision an enhancer and a promoter interacting in cis on an individual chromo- some. However, when one considers that thousands of enhancers and promoters are packed into the relatively small space of the nucleus in vivo, this view is most assuredly oversimplified. In fact, a growing body of evidence supports that interactions between regulatory elements such as enhancers and promoters can take place in trans between different chromosomes. Interchromosomal interactions have been implicated in several epigenetic phenomena, including X-inactivation and parental imprinting, making it increasingly clear that the three-dimensional organization of the genome plays an integral role in regulating gene expression and development. A better understanding of interchromosomal interactions can be achieved through the study of a simple model system such as Drosophila, where homologous chromosomes are intimately paired in all cells of the organism8. This pairing permits trans-activation of a promoter on one chromosome by an enhancer on its homolog, a phenomenon known as transvection. Through the study of transvection and homolog pairing, my research aims to better understand how the spatial organization of the genome impacts enhancer-promoter specificity.