Lisa L. Maduzia

TL;DR: The C. elegans model for TGFbeta-like signaling, in which distinct type I receptors determine specificity, may be a general mechanism of achieving specificity in other organisms and distinguish between the manner in which signaling specificity is achieved in TGF beta-like pathways and receptor tyrosine-kinase (RTK) pathways.

TL;DR: The identification of a new Drosophila class II Smad, Medea, a close homolog of the human tumor-suppressor gene DPC4 is reported, providing a paradigm for, and distinguish between, the requirement for class I and II Smads in Dpp/BMP signaling.

TL;DR: Two genes influence regulation of the developmentally arrested dauer larval stage, suggesting a role in a second characterized TGFβ pathway in C. elegans and homologs of these genes may be involved in tissue specificity and/or crosstalk of TGF β pathways in other animals.

TL;DR: Lon-1 is identified as a novel downstream target gene of the dbl-1 TGF beta-like signaling pathway, a gene with homology to the cysteine-rich secretory protein (CRISP) family of proteins that regulates body size morphogenesis, but does not affect male tail development.

TL;DR: kin-29 is a new modulator of the Sma/Mab pathway that functions in neurons and in the hypodermis to regulate body size, but does not affect all TGFβ outputs, such as tail morphogenesis.