Dzwokai Zach Ma

Biography

I conducted my graduate research at the Chemistry Department of UC Berkeley where I worked on gene regulation and DNA supercoiling in bacteria with Dr. J. Hearst, as well as bacterial multi-drug transporters with Dr. H. Nikaido. I then became a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Dr. Lily Jan at UC San Francisco and studied the trafficking of potassium channels in neurons. I started my research group at UC Santa Barbara in 2004.

Research

Measles is a childhood infection with high morbidity and mortality. The causative agent, measles virus, is an enveloped RNA virus belonged to the family Paramyxoviridae, which also include many other human pathogens. Current data suggest that these viruses are replicated in specific cytoplasmic loci called the inclusion bodies; however, the molecular mechanism governing the formation of inclusion bodies remains unknown. We are using a combination of cell biology and biochemistry approaches to identify the host and viral factors involved in this process and investigate how the interactions of these factors regulate the structure and function of inclusion bodies. These studies are expected to provide insight into the replication of measles virus and other RNA viruses, and may open the door to novel treatments.

Selected Publications

Smith, M. and *Ma, D**.* (2024) Investigating Liquid-liquid Phase Separation in Virus-generated Inclusion Bodies Using Fluorescence Recovery after Photobleaching of Fluorescently Labeled Host Proteins. “Measles and related Morbilliviruses” in the Methods in Molecular Biology Series by Springer Nature.

Bailey J.K., *Ma D.*, Clegg D.O. (2024) Initial Characterization of WDR5B Reveals a Role in the Proliferation of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells. Cells. 13(14):1189

BenDavid E., Yang C., Zhou Y., Pfaller C.K., Samuel C.E., *Ma D.* (2024) Host WD repeat-containing protein 5 inhibits protein kinase R-mediated integrated stress response during measles virus infection. J Virol. 98(9):e0102024.

BenDavid, E., Pfaller, C., Samuel, C., and Ma, D. (2022), Host 5'-3' Exonuclease XRN1 Acts as a Proviral Factor for Measles Virus Replication by Down Regulating dsRNA-activated Kinase PKR. Journal of Virology, 96: e0131922

Su, J., Wilson, M., Samuel, C., and Ma, D. (2021), Formation and Function of Liquid-Like Viral Factories in Negative-Sense Single-Stranded RNA Virus Infections.  Viruses, 13: 126.

Zhao, Y., Su, J., Samuel, C., and Ma, D. (2019). Measles Virus Forms Inclusion Bodies with Properties of Liquid Organelles. Journal of Virology, 93: e0094819.

Vural, A., Oner, S., Fadillioglu, D., Kelesoglu, F., Ma, D., and Lanier, S. (2018), Role of G-proteins and Phosphorylation in the Distribution of AGS3 to Cell Puncta. Journal of Cell Science, 131: jcs216507.

Ma, D., George, C., Nomburg, J., Pfaller, C., Cattaneo, R., and Samuel, C. (2017), Unconventional function of histone H3 lysine 4 methyltransferase subunits. Journal of Virology, 92: e01726-17. (This paper is highlighted by the Journal of Virology)

Bailey, J., Nguyen, H., Lakhani, A., and Ma. D. (2016), Unconventional function of histone H3 lysine 4 methyltransferase subunits. Frontiers in Biology, 11: 10-18

Bailey, J., Fields, Cheng, K., Lee, A., Wagenaar, A., Lagrois, R., Schmidt, B., Xia, B., and Ma. D. (2015), WD Repeat-Containing Protein 5 (WDR5) Localizes to the Midbody and Regulates Abscission. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 14: 8987-9001.

Xu, Z., Xia, B., Gong, Q., Bailey, J., Groves, B., Mu, D., Radeke, M., Wood, S., Szumlinski, K., and Ma. D. (2010), Identification of a deubiquitinating enzyme as a novel AGS3-interacting protein. PLoS One, 5: e9725.

Xia, B., Joubert, A., Groves, B., Djavaherian, D., Awe, J., Mu, D., Cherfils, J., and Ma. D. (2010), Modulation of cell adhesion and migration by a histone methyltransferase subunit and its interacting proteins. PLoS One, 5: e11771.

Groves, B., Abrahamsen, H., Clingan, H., Frantz, M., Mavor, J., Bailey, J., and Ma. D. (2010), An inhibitory role of the G-protein regulator AGS3 in mTOR-dependent macroautophagy. PLOS ONE, 5: e8877.

Xu, Z., Gong, Q., Xia, B., Groves, B., Mu, D., Seaman, M., and Ma. D. (2009), A role of histone H3 lysine 4 methyltransferase components in endosomal trafficking. Journal of Cell Biology, 186: 343-353. (This paper is highlighted by the Journal of Cell Biology and Faculty of 1000 Biology).

Gong, Q., Huntaman, C., and Ma, D. Clathrin-independent internalization and recycling. (2008), Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, 12: 126-144.

Groves, B., Gong, Q., Xu, Z., Huntsman, C., Li, D., Nguyen, C., and Ma. D. (2007), A specific role of AGS3 in the surface expression of plasma membrane proteins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104: 18103-10108.