Alan Tartakoff, PhD

Professor
Department of Pathology
School of Medicine
Professor
Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences
School of Medicine
Professor
Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology
Professor
Department of Biochemistry

Research Information

Research Projects

Our research program concerns both basic cell biology and disease-oriented investigations:

Dynamic Spatial Relations in Eukaryotic Cells

As an outgrowth of former studies of transport along the secretory path, mitochondrial inheritance, the causes of aneuploidy and export from the nucleus, we are presently investigating the functional organization of the nucleolus in S. cerevisiae.  While these studies continue, we will use that knowledge to investigate the normal organization of the nucleolus in human cells and its perturbations in malignancy.

Former Lab Members

Sy Fatemi, University of Minnesota
Thomas Hattier, Cellular Technology, Ltd.
Tatsuhiko Kadowaki, Xi'an Jiantong-Liverpool University
Shuang Liang, Guangzhou University 
Michal Lichtenstein, Hebrew University
Jayasri Nanduri, University of Chicago
Hito Ohno, Kyoto University
Vipul Parmar, Duke University
Urvashi Rai, unknown
Roger Schneiter, University of Fribourg (Switzerland)
David Singleton, University of Virginia
Neena Singh, Case Western Reserve University
Tao Tao, Xiamen University 
Ellen Tisdale, Wayne State University
Jerrold Turner, Harvard Medical School
Peter Wiest, MetroHealth, Cleveland
Di Wu, University of North Carolina

Recent Funding

  • NIH
  • Cure Huntington's Disease Initiative
  • CWRU Cancer Center

Publications

View All Publications

Tartakoff AM, Chen L, Raghavachari S, Gitiforooz D, Dhinakaran A, Ni CL, Pasadyn C, Mahabaeleshwar GH, Pasadyn V, Woolford JL Jr. (2021). The Nucleolus as a Polarized Coaxial Cable in which the rDNA Axis is Surrounded by Dynamic Subunit-Specific Phases. Curr Biol. 31, 2507 (2021). 

Rai U, Najm F, Tartakoff AM Nucleolar asymmetry and the importance of septin integrity upon cell cycle arrest. PLoS One Mar 24;12(3):e0174306 (2017).

Tartakoff AM, Dulce D, Landis E. Delayed encounter of parental genomes can lead to aneuploidy in S. cerevisiae. Genetics 208, 139 (2017).

Tartakoff AM.  Cell biology of yeast zygotes, from genesis to budding.  Biochim Biophys Acta. 1853(7):1702-14 (2015).

Tartakoff, AM. and Wu, D. The Axis of Disease Progression. Cancer Informatics, Supplementary Issue: Network and Pathway Analysis of Cancer Susceptibility (B), Cancer Informatics:13(S6), p.7-13 (2014).

Zapanta Rinonos S, Rai U, Vereb S, Wolf, K, Yuen E, Lin, C. Tartakoff AM. The Sequential Logic of Polarity Determination During the Haploid-to-Diploid Transition in S. cerevisiae. Eukaryotic Cell, 13, 1393 (2014).  

A. Tartakoff, I. Aylyarov and P. Jaiswal. Septin-Containing Barriers Control the Differential Inheritance of Cytoplasmic Elements. Cell Rep. 3(1):223-36 (2013).

Pantopoulos K, Porwal SK, Tartakoff A, Devireddy L. Mechanisms of Mammalian iron homeostasis. Biochemistry. 51, 5705-24 (2012).

Zapanta Rinonos, S. Jeremy Saks, Jonida Toska, Chun-Lun Ni and Alan Michael Tartakoff. Flow Cytometry-Based Purification of S. cerevisiae Zygotes. Journal of Visualized Experiments, e4197 (2012).

Smith SB, Kiss DL, Turk E, Tartakoff AM, Andrulis ED. Pronounced and Extensive Microtubule Defects in a Saccharomyces cerevisiae DIS3 Mutant. Yeast. 28, 755-69 (2011).

Tartakoff, A. and Jaiswal, P. Nuclear Fusion and Genome Encounter During Yeast Zygote Formation. Mol. Biol. Cell 20, 2932-2942 (2009). Selected for special mention by the journal.

Roy, S., Bonfield, T., & Tartakoff, A. Non-Apoptotic Toxicity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Toward Murine Cells. PLoS ONE;8(1):e54245 (2013).

Ye W, Lin W, Tartakoff AM, Tao T. Karyopherins in nuclear transport of homeodomain proteins during development. Biochim Biophys Acta.1813, 1654-62 (2011).

Tartakoff, A. and Tao, T. Comparative and Evolutionary Aspects of Macromolecular Translocation Across Membranes. Int. J. Biochem and Cell Biol. 42, 214-229 (2010).

Li, C., Yu, S., Nakamura, M., Yin, S., Xu, J., Petrolla, A., Singh, N., Tartakoff, A., Abbott, D., Xin, W. and Sy, M. Binding of pro-prion to FLNa disrupts cytoskeleton and correlates with poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer. J. Clin. Invest. 119, 2725-2736 (2009).

Lin, W., Ye, W., Cai, L., Meng, X., Ke, G., Huang, C., Peng, Z., Yu, Y., Golden, J., Tartakoff, A. and Tao, T. The roles of multiple importins for nuclear import of murine aristaless-related homeobox protein. J. Biol Chem. 284, 20428-20439 (2009).

Quan Y, Ji ZL, Wang X, Tartakoff AM, Tao T. Evolutionary and transcriptional analysis of karyopherin beta superfamily protein. Mol Cell Proteomics. 7, 1254-1269 (2008).

Liang, J., Ke, G., You, W., Peng,Z., Lan, J., Kalesse, M., Tartakoff, A., Kaplan, F. and Tao T. Interaction between importin 13 and myopodin suggests a nuclear import pathway for myopodin. Mol Cell Biochem 307, 93-100 (2008).

Wu, D. Townsley, E. and Tartakoff, A. Covert Genetic Selections to Optimize Cellular Phenotypes. PLoS-ONE 2, e1200 (2007).Hattier, T., Andrulis, E. and Tartakoff, A. Immobility, Inheritance and Plasticity of Shape of the Yeast Nucleus. BMC Cell Biology 8, 47 (2007)

Nanduri J, Tartakoff A The arrest of secretion response. Mol Cell 8, 281-289 (2001).
Lichtenstein M, Guo W, Tartakoff A Control of nuclear export of hnRNPA1. Traffic 2, 261-267 (2001).

Tao T, Tartakoff A Nuclear relocation of normal Huntington. Traffic 2, 385-394 (2001).

Gabel L, Won S, Kawai H, McKinney M, Tartakoff A, Fallon J Visual experience regulates transient expression and dendritic localization of Fragile X mental retardation protein. J Neurosci 24, 10579-10583 (2004).

Nanduri J, Tartakoff A Perturbation of the nucleus: a novel Hoglp-independent, Pkclp-dependent consequence of hypertonic shock. Mol Cell Biol 12, 1835-1841 (2001).

Nanduri J, Mitra S, Andrei C, Liu Y, Yu Y, Hitomi M, Tartakoff A Unexpected link between the secretory path and the nucleus. J Biol Chem 274, 33785-33789 (1999).

Liu Y, Guo W, Tartakoff P, Tartakoff A A Crm1p-independent path for export of the mRNA-binding protein, Mtr13p/Npl3p. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96, 6739-6744 (1999).

Tseng S, Weaver P, Liu Y, Hitomi M, Tartakoff A, Chang T-H A cytosolic RNA helicase required for poly(A)+ RNA export. EMBO J 17, 2651-2662 (1998).

Liang S, Hitomi M, Tartakoff A Adenoviral E1B-55kDa protein inhibits yeast mRNA export. Proc Natl Acad Sci 92, 7372-7375 (1995).

Singh N, Liang L-N, Tykocinski M, Tartakoff A. A novel class of cell surface glycolipids of mammalian cells. J Biol Chem 271, 12879-12884 (1996).

Liang S, Hitomi M, Hu Y-H, Liu Y, Tartakoff A A DEAD-box family protein is required for nucleocytoplasmic transport of yeast mRNA. Mol Cell Biol 16, 5139-5146 (1996).

Liu Y, Liang S, Tartakoff A Heat shock disassembles the nucleolus. EMBO J 15, 6750-6757 (1996).

Kadowaki T, Chen S, Hitomi M, Jacobs E, Kumagai C, Liang S, Schneiter R, Singleton D, Wisniewska J, Tartakoff AM Isolation and characterization of S. cerevisiae mRNA transport-defective (mtr) mutants. J Cell Biol 126, 649-659 (1994)

Kadowaki T, Goldfarb D, Spitz LM, Tartakoff A, Ohno M Regulation of RNA processing and transport by a nuclear guanine nucleotide release protein and members of the Ras superfamily. EMBO J 12, 2929-2937 (1993).

Education

Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Institution
Rockefeller University
Area of Study
Cell Biology
Year Received
1973
Degree
Bachelor of Arts
Institution
Harvard University
Area of Study
Biology
Year Received
1965

Residencies, Internships and Fellowships

Institution
University of Geneva
Area of Study
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Pathology