UF | IFAS | Department of Microbiology and Cell Science

The Square Lab’s work is focused broadly on the developmental genetics and evolution of skeletal formation. Current funding is aimed towards understanding which signaling pathways control tooth specification, maintenance, and regeneration. Specifically, future work will identify genetic mechanisms that control how clusters of organs, like the teeth that compose vertebrate tooth fields, can orchestrate collective actions such as expansion and arrest in order to achieve adult dental morphology. Gene expression manipulations in model fish species like threespine sticklebacks and zebrafish allow for the to experimental isolation of tooth specification as a variable, allowing us to ask which signaling pathways and transcription factors drive these important biological processes.

Selected Publications

(Self, ᵀdirect trainee)

Square, T.A., ᵀMackey, E.J., ᵀSundaram, S., ᵀWeksler, N.C., ᵀChen, Z.C., ᵀNarayanan, S.N., Miller, C.T. Modulation of tooth regeneration through opposing responses to Wnt and BMP signals in teleosts. Development 2023. PMID: 38059590

Mack, K.L., Square, T.A., Zhao, B., Miller, C.T., Fraser, H.B. Evolution of spatial and temporal cis-regulatory divergence between marine and freshwater sticklebacks. Molecular Biology and Evolution 2023. PMID: 36805962

Rowley A.J., Square T.A., Miller C.T. Site pleiotropy of a stickleback Bmp6 enhancer. Developmental Biology 2022. PMID: 36198347

Stepaniak M.D., Square T.A., Miller C.T. Evolved Bmp6 enhancer alleles drive spatial shifts in gene expression during tooth development in sticklebacks. Genetics 2021. PMID: 34849839

Square, T.A., ᵀSundaram, S., ᵀMackey, E.J. & Miller, C.T. Distinct tooth regeneration systems deploy a conserved battery of genes. EvoDevo 2021. PMID: 33766133

Square, T.A., Jandzik, D., Massey, J., Romášek, M., ᵀStein, H., ᵀHansen, A., ᵀPurkayastha, A., Cattell, M., Medeiros, D.M. Evolution of the endothelin pathway drove neural crest cell diversification. Nature 2020. PMID: 32939088

Square, T.A., Jandzik, D., Romášek, M., Cerny, R., Medeiros, D.M. The origin and diversification of the developmental mechanisms that pattern the vertebrate head skeleton. Developmental Biology 2017. PMID: 27884657.

Square, T.A., Jandzik, D., Cattell, M., ᵀHansen, A., Medeiros, D.M. Embryonic expression of endothelins and their receptors in lamprey and frog reveals stem vertebrate origins of complex Endothelin signaling. Scientific Reports 2016. PMID: 27677704.

Square, T.A., Romášek, M., Jandzik, D., Cattell, M., Klymkowsky, M., Medeiros, D.M. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutagenesis in the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus): a powerful tool for understanding ancestral gene functions in vertebrates. Development 2015. PMID: 26511928.

Jandzik, D., Garnett, A.T., Square, T.A., Cattell, M.V., Yu, J.K., Medeiros, D.M. Evolution of the new vertebrate head by co-option of an ancient chordate skeletal tissue. Nature 2015. PMID: 25487155.

Square, T.A., Jandzik, D., Cattell, M., Coe, A., Doherty, J., Medeiros, D.M. A gene expression map of the larval Xenopus laevis head reveals developmental changes underlying the evolution of new skeletal elements. Developmental Biology 2015. PMID: 25446275.

Jandzik, D., Hawkins, M.B., Cattell, M.V., Cerny, R., Square, T.A. Medeiros, D.M. Roles for FGF in lamprey pharyngeal pouch formation and skeletogenesis highlight ancestral functions in the vertebrate head. Development 2014. PMID: 24449839.

 Garnett, A.T., Square, T.A., Medeiros, D.M. BMP, Wnt and FGF signals are integrated through evolutionarily conserved enhancers to achieve robust expression of Pax3 and Zic genes at the zebrafish neural plate border. Development 2012. PMID: 23034628.