James M. Ervasti, PhD
Professor, and Biophysics Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology

Contact Info
Professor, and Biophysics Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
Faculty, PhD Program in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics
Faculty, PhD Program in Integrative Biology and Physiology
Faculty, PhD Program in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Genetics
Preceptor, Medical Scientist Training Program (Combined MD/PhD Training Program)
PhD, University of Minnesota (1989)
Summary
Expertise
Dystrophin, Utrophin, Muscular dystrophy, Actin cytoskeleton, Microtubule-associated proteins, Protein-protein interactions, Protein stability, Animal models of disease
Research
Research Summary/Interests
In a completely new line of investigation, my group is working to determine the potentially unique roles of non-muscle actin isoforms in the establishment/maintenance of cell polarity in a variety of tissues. The ?- and ?-isoforms of actin distribute to distinct locations within a variety of polarized cell types, including neurons, epithelial cells, and hair cells of the inner ear yet ?- and ?-actin differ from each other by only 4 amino acids. Using new isoform-specific reagents and conditional knock-out mouse lines developed during the course of our muscular dystrophy studies, the lab is now working to identify non-overlapping functions of these two highly conserved and widely expressed proteins.
Research Methods/Techniques
Publications
Recent Publications
- Belanto, J.J., Mader, T., Eckhoff, M., Strandjord, D.M., Banks, G.B., Gardner, M.K., Lowe, D.A. and Ervasti J.M. (2014) Microtubule Binding Distinguishes Dystrophin from Utrophin. Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 111:5723-5728. PMCID: PMC3992671
- Perrin B.J., Strandjord, D.M., Narayanan, P., Henderson, D.M., Johnson, K.R. and Ervasti, J.M. (2013) ?-Actin and fascin-2 cooperate to maintain stereocilia length. J. Neurosci. 33:8114. PMCID: PMC3718021
- Lin, A.Y., Prochniewicz, E., Henderson, D.M., Li, B., Ervasti, J.M. and Thomas, D.D. (2012) Impacts of dystrophin and utrophin domains on actin structural dynamics: implications for therapeutic design. J. Mol. Biol. 420:87-98. PMCID: PMC3367031
- Henderson, D.M., Lin, A.Y., Thomas, D.D. and Ervasti, J.M. (2012) The Carboxy-Terminal Third of Dystrophin Enhances Actin Binding Activity. J. Mol. Biol. 416:414-424. PMCID: PMC3273627
- Zhang, D.-S., Piazza, V., Perrin, B.J., Rzadzinska, A.K., Poczatek, J.C., Wang, M., Prosser, H.M., Ervasti, J.M., Corey, D.P. and Lechene, C.P. (2012) Multi-isotope imaging mass spectrometry reveals slow protein turnover in stereocilia of inner-ear hair cells. Nature 481:520–524. PMCID: PMC3267870
- Baltgalvis, K.A., Jaeger, M.A., Fitzsimons, D.P., Thayer, S.A., Lowe, D.A. and Ervasti, J.M. (2011) Transgenic over-expression of ?-cytoplasmic actin protects against eccentric contraction-induced force loss in mdx mice. Skeletal Muscle 1:32. PMCID: PMC3214766
- Henderson, D.M., Belanto, J.J., Li, B., Heun-Johnson, H. and Ervasti, J.M. (2011) Internal deletion compromises the stability of dystrophin Hum. Mol. Genet. 20:2955-2963. PMCID: PMC3131041
- Bunnell, T.M., Burbach, B.J., Shimizu, Y. and Ervasti, J.M. (2011) ?-actin specifically controls cell growth, migration and the G-actin pool. Mol. Biol. Cell 22:4047-4058. PMCID: PMC3204067
- Prins, K.W., Call, J.A., Lowe, D.A and Ervasti, J.M. (2011) Quadriceps myopathy caused by skeletal muscle specific ablation of ?cyto-actin. J. Cell Sci. 124:951-957. PMCID: PMC3048892
- Henderson, D.M., Lee, A. and Ervasti, J.M. (2010) Disease-Causing Missense Mutations in Actin Binding Domain 1 of Dystrophin Induce Thermodynamic Instability and Protein Aggregation. Proc. National Acad. Sci. USA 107:9632-9637. PMCID: PMC2906886
- Perrin, B.J., Sonnemann, K.J and Ervasti, J.M. (2010) ?-actin and ?-actin are each dispensible for auditory hair cell development but required for stereocilia maintenance. PLoS Genetics 6:e1001158. PMCID: PMC2954897
- Belyantseva, I.A., Perrin, B.J., Sonnemann, K.J., Zhu, M., Stepanyan, R., McGee, J., Frolenkov, G.A., Walsh, E.J., Friderici, K.H., Friedman, T.B. and Ervasti, J.M. (2009) ?-Actin is required for cytoskeletal maintenance but not development. Proc. National Acad. Sci. USA 106:9703-9708. PMCID: PMC2701000
- Prins, K.W., Humston, J.M., Mehta, A., Tate, V., Ralston, E. and Ervasti, J.M. (2009) Dystrophin is a microtubule-associated protein J. Cell Biol. 186:363-369. PMCID: PMC2728405
- Bunnell, T.M. and Ervasti, J.M. (2010) Delayed embryonic development and impaired cell growth and survival in Actg1 null mice. Cytoskeleton 67:564-572.
- Henderson, D.M., Lee, A. and Ervasti, J.M. (2010) Disease-Causing Missense Mutations in Actin Binding Domain 1 of Dystrophin Induce Thermodynamic Instability and Protein Aggregation. Proc. National Acad. Sci. USA 107:9632-9637.
- Prins, K.W., Humston, J.M., Mehta, A., Tate, V., Ralston, E. and Ervasti, J.M. (2009) Dystrophin is a microtubule-associated protein J. Cell Biol. 186:363-369.
- Belyantseva, I.A., Perrin, B.J., Sonnemann, K.J., Zhu, M., Stepanyan, R., McGee, J., Frolenkov, G.A., Walsh, E.J., Friderici, K.H., Friedman, T.B. and Ervasti, J.M. (2009) ?-Actin is required for cytoskeletal maintenance but not development. Proc. National Acad. Sci. USA 106:9703-9708.
- Sonnemann, K.J., Heun-Johnson, H., Turner A.J., Baltgalvis, K., Lowe D.A. and Ervasti, J.M. (2009) Functional substitution by TAT-utrophin in dystrophin deficient mice. PLoS Med. 6:e1000083. PDF
- Prochniewicz, E., Henderson, D.M., Ervasti, J.M. and Thomas, D.D. (2009) Dystrophin and utrophin have distinct effects on the structural dynamics of actin Proc. National Acad. Sci. USA 106:7822-7827.
- Jaeger, M.A., Sonnemann, K.J., Fitzsimons, D., Prins, K.W. and Ervasti, J.M. (2009) Context dependent functional substitution of a-skeletal actin by ?-cytoplasmic actin FASEB J. 23:2205-2214.
- Bunnell, T.M., Jaeger M.A., Fitzsimons, D.P., Prins, K.W. and Ervasti, J.M. (2008) Destabilization of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex without functional deficits in a-dystrobrevin null muscle PLoS One 3:e2604.
- Prins K.W., Lowe D.A. and Ervasti, J.M. (2008) Skeletal muscle-specific ablation of ?cyto-actin does not exacerbate the mdx phenotype. PLoS One 3:e2419.
- Ervasti, J.M. and Sonnemann, K.J. (2008) Biology of the Dystrophin-Glycoprotein Complex. In: International Review of Cytology; A Survey of Cell Biology (K.W. Jeon, ed.) Ch. 5, pp. 191-225, Elsevier, San Diego.
- Ervasti, J.M. (2007) Dystrophin, its interactions with other proteins, and implications for muscular dystrophy. BBA Molec. Basis Dis. 1772:108-117 (Published online June 7, 2006 DOI 10.1016/j.bbadis.2006.05.010).