Chi-Kuang (Jih-Guang) Yao

Contact Information

Research Interests

I am interested in the regulation of neurotransmission, which is a critical step in communication between neurons. I use the Drosophila brain and neuromuscular junction (NMJ) to understand the underlying mechanisms of this process. Recently, to identify novel components involved in neurotransmission, we have performed an unbiased forward genetic screen using the ey-FLP system. The mutant phenotypes will be further characterized by electroretinogram (ERG) recording, TEM and electrophysiology.

Publications

Ly CV, Yao CK, Verstreken P, Ohyama T, Bellen HJ (2008) straightjacket is required for the synaptic stabilization of cacophony, a voltage gated calcium channel α1 subunit. Journal of Cell Biology 181:157-170.

Yao JG, Sun YH (2005) Eyg and Ey Pax proteins act by distinct transcriptional mechanisms in Drosophila development. EMBO Journal 24:2602-2612.