Darryl Kropf
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D. Colorado Health Sciences Center
Email: kropf@bioscience.utah.edu
Research Statement
The establishment of cell polarity and asymmetric cell division is fundamental to development and differentiation of nearly all eukaryotes. Zygotes of the brown alga, Silvetia compressa, are especially amenable to polarity studies because the orientation of the developmental axis can be experimentally manipulated. We are investigating the cellular events that break symmetry and establish a rhizoid-thallus axis following fertilization. To complement this work, we have recently extended our studies to Ectocarpus siliculosus, the first brown alga to have its genome sequenced. Genetic and genomic studies in this model organism should allow us to identify novel proteins and pathways that regulate polarity establishment.
Specific Interests
- Fertilization and embryogenesis
- Polarity Establishment
- Asymmetric Division
Selected Publications
- Alessa, Lilian and Darryl L. Kropf (1999) F-actin marks the rhizoid pole of Pelvetia zygotes. Development 126: 201-209.
- Bisgrove, Sherryl R., Henderson, David C. and Darryl L. Kropf (2003) Asymmetric division in fucoid zygotes is positioned by telophase nuclei. Plant Cell 15: 854-862.
- Hable, Whitney E. and Darryl L. Kropf (2005) Studies of the Arp2 protein and actin nucleation in fucoid zygotes. Cell Motil. Cytoskel. 61: 9-20.
- Peters, Nick T., Logan, Kyle O., Miller, Anne Catherine and Darryl L. Kropf (2007) Phospholipase D signaling regulates microtubule organization in the fucoid alga Silvetia compressa. Plant Cell Physiol. 48;1764-1774.
- Bisgrove, Sherryl R. and Darryl L. Kropf (2008) Asymmetric cell divisions: Zygotes of fucoid algae as a model system. In Cell Division Control in Plants, Plant Cell Monographs, vol. 9, pp. 323-341, D.P.S. Verma and Z. Hong, eds., Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.