Urs Schmidt-Ott
Research Summary / Selected Publications
We use Drosophila as an entry point for comparative developmental studies in insects. The goal is to understand how specific developmental mechanisms of Drosophila originated in evolution. Experimental work in the laboratory ranges from molecular and genetic techniques to microscopy and micromanipulation, and at times, requires also fly collection in the wild.
Lemke, S., Schmidt-Ott, U. (in press). Evidence for a composite anterior determinant in the hover fly Episyrphus balteatus (Syrphidae), a cyclorrhaphan fly with an anterodorsal serosa anlage. Development xxx: xxx-xxx.
Rafiqi, Ab. M., Lemke, S. L., Ferguson, S., Stauber, M., Schmidt-Ott, U. (2008). Evolutionary origin of the amnioserosa in cyclorrhapahan flies correlates with spatial and temporal expression changes of zen. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 234-239.
Bullock, S. L., Stauber, M., Prell, A., Hughes, J., Ish-Horowicz, D., Schmidt-Ott, U. (2004). Differential Cytoplasmic mRNA Localization Adjusts Pair-Rule Transcription Factor Activity to Cytoarchitecture in Dipteran Evolution. Development 131, 4251-4261.