@article{6025,
  abstract     = {Non-canonical Wnt signaling plays a central role for coordinated cell polarization and directed migration in metazoan development. While spatiotemporally restricted activation of non-canonical Wnt-signaling drives cell polarization in epithelial tissues, it remains unclear whether such instructive activity is also critical for directed mesenchymal cell migration. Here, we developed a light-activated version of the non-canonical Wnt receptor Frizzled 7 (Fz7) to analyze how restricted activation of non-canonical Wnt signaling affects directed anterior axial mesendoderm (prechordal plate, ppl) cell migration within the zebrafish gastrula. We found that Fz7 signaling is required for ppl cell protrusion formation and migration and that spatiotemporally restricted ectopic activation is capable of redirecting their migration. Finally, we show that uniform activation of Fz7 signaling in ppl cells fully rescues defective directed cell migration in fz7 mutant embryos. Together, our findings reveal that in contrast to the situation in epithelial cells, non-canonical Wnt signaling functions permissively rather than instructively in directed mesenchymal cell migration during gastrulation.},
  author       = {Capek, Daniel and Smutny, Michael and Tichy, Alexandra Madelaine and Morri, Maurizio and Janovjak, Harald L and Heisenberg, Carl-Philipp J},
  journal      = {eLife},
  publisher    = {eLife Sciences Publications},
  title        = {{Light-activated Frizzled7 reveals a permissive role of non-canonical wnt signaling in mesendoderm cell migration}},
  doi          = {10.7554/eLife.42093},
  volume       = {8},
  year         = {2019},
}

@article{5984,
  abstract     = {G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) form the largest receptor family, relay environmental stimuli to changes in cell behavior and represent prime drug targets. Many GPCRs are classified as orphan receptors because of the limited knowledge on their ligands and coupling to cellular signaling machineries. Here, we engineer a library of 63 chimeric receptors that contain the signaling domains of human orphan and understudied GPCRs functionally linked to the light-sensing domain of rhodopsin. Upon stimulation with visible light, we identify activation of canonical cell signaling pathways, including cAMP-, Ca2+-, MAPK/ERK-, and Rho-dependent pathways, downstream of the engineered receptors. For the human pseudogene GPR33, we resurrect a signaling function that supports its hypothesized role as a pathogen entry site. These results demonstrate that substituting unknown chemical activators with a light switch can reveal information about protein function and provide an optically controlled protein library for exploring the physiology and therapeutic potential of understudied GPCRs.},
  author       = {Morri, Maurizio and Sanchez-Romero, Inmaculada and Tichy, Alexandra-Madelaine and Kainrath, Stephanie and Gerrard, Elliot J. and Hirschfeld, Priscila and Schwarz, Jan and Janovjak, Harald L},
  issn         = {2041-1723},
  journal      = {Nature Communications},
  number       = {1},
  publisher    = {Springer Nature},
  title        = {{Optical functionalization of human class A orphan G-protein-coupled receptors}},
  doi          = {10.1038/s41467-018-04342-1},
  volume       = {9},
  year         = {2018},
}

@phdthesis{1124,
  author       = {Morri, Maurizio},
  issn         = {2663-337X},
  pages        = {129},
  publisher    = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria},
  title        = {{Optical functionalization of human class A orphan G-protein coupled receptors}},
  year         = {2016},
}