• 1964 - 1968 Cornell University. B.S. in genetics.

• 1968 - 1969 Albert Einstein College of Medicine. NIH trainee.

• 1970 - 1972 Adelphi University. M.S. in biology. Teaching Assistant. (Advisor, George K. Russell).

• 1972 - 1976 Indiana University. Ph.D. in genetics. PHS trainee. (Research Advisor, Robert K. Togasaki).

• 1976 - 1979 Harvard University. Post-Doctoral fellow, Cabot Foundation. (Sponsor, Ursula W. Goodenough).

Fertilization in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a novel model system for determining the protein(s) required for gamete fusion, may help define the basic requirements for sperm-egg fusion in more complex systems. Our long term goal is to understand the mechanism of fusion used by gametes. Mammalian fertilization requires so many interactions prior to fusion, that it is difficult to determine which genes/proteins are actually required for fusion of the sperm and egg membranes.

While only a few proteins involved in gamete fusion have been identified, we have produced conditional and non-conditional (insertional) mutants of Chlamydomonas that carry out the early recognition, signaling and adhesion steps in mating but are blocked in the final stage of fertilization. In addition, this is the only available system in which gamete adhesion and fusion can be assayed independently and where mutations can therefore be defined as affecting plasma membrane adhesion or plasma membrane fusion.

Using our insertional mutants, TAIL-PCR (Thermal asymmetric interlaced-PCR) has allowed us to identify 2 regions of the Chlamydomonas genome that may contain the gene that is defective in our insertional fusion-defective mutants. We are transforming our fusion-defective mutants with bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) containing the wild type sequences from these identified regions of the genome, to determine if a gene in one of these regions can rescue fusion activity.

We will then use our conditional mutants to map the functional domains of the identified protein. Fluorescence and electron microscopy as well as Northern blotting and RT-PCR will be used to study the regulation, production and localization of this protein and bioinformatics and molecular modeling will help us understand this proteinÕs function. The power of Chlamydomonas genetics and molecular biology, the simplicity of the process of fertilization and the striking similarity of this system to fertilization in multicellular organisms makes it an important model system for studying the mechanism of gamete fusion.

• Forest, C.L. and Ojakian, G.K. Mating structure differences demonstrated by freeze-fracture analysis of fusion-defective ÊChlamydomonas mutants. J. Protozool. (1989). 36, 548-556.
• Forest, C.L. Genetic control of plasma membrane adhesion and fusion in Chlamydomonas gametes. J. Cell Sci. (1987). 88,613-621.
• Forest, C.L. Mating structure-cell adhesion molecules - their role in fertilization in Chlamydomonas. Annals of the N.Y. Acad. Sci. (1987). 494, 202-204.
• Viskaduraki, M.F. and Forest, C.L. Plasma membrane surface polypeptides of vegetative cells, gametes and activated gametes of C. reinhardtii. Seventh Int. Conf. Cell and Molec. Biol. of Chlamydomonas, (1996).
• Viskaduraki, M.F. and Forest, C.L. Surface labeling the Chlamydomonas plasma membrane. Differences in polypeptides of vegetative cells, gametes and activated gametes. (1995). Mol. Biol. of the Cell. 6, 180a.
• Viskaduraki, M. and Forest, C. Mapping Chlamydomonas reinhardtii surface proteins: comparison of vegetative and gametic cell membrane maps. (1995). Plant. Phys. 108, 122.
• Forest, C. Fusion inhibition by surfactants suggests a virus-like fusion peptide may be involved in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii fertilization. Sixth Int. Conf. Cell and Molec. Biol. of Chlamydomonas,(1994).
• Salawu, H., Viskaduraki, M. and Forest, C. Biotinylation and detection of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii plasma membrane proteins. Sixth Int. Conf. Cell and Molec. Biol. of Chlamydomonas,(1994).
• Viskaduraki, M. and Forest, C. Vegetative and gamete-specific proteins in Chlamydomonas plasma membrane. Sixth Int. Conf. Cell and Molec. Biol. of Chlamydomonas, (1994).
• Forest, C. Detergent stimulation of flagellar agglutination and zygote formation. Sixth Int. Conf. Cell and Molec. Biol. ofChlamydomonas, (1994).
• Forest, C.L. Effects of non-ionic detergents on Chlamydomonas mating - possible modes of action. Molec. Biol. of the Cell.(1993).

Abstracts - the last 10 years

• Aksoy, M.*, Lam, N*, Son, M* and Forest, C.L. Cloning genes involved in gamete fusion and signaling in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. 12th International conference on the cell and molecular biology of Chlamydomonas. (2006).
• Aksoy, M.*, Forest, C.L. and Singh, S. Homology Modeling of PH Domain Proteins in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Graduate Center Science Day (2006) and 12th International conference on the cell and molecular biology of Chlamydomonas. (2006).
• Aksoy, M.* and Forest, C.L. Cloning a gamete fusion gene using insertional fusion-defective mutants. New York Area Plant Molecular Biology Meeting. (2005).
• Aksoy, M.* and Forest, C.L. Cloning the gamete fusion gene in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. 11th International conference on the cell and molecular biology of Chlamydomonas. (2004).
• Navarro, K.*, Aksoy, M.* and Forest, C.L. Genetic analysis of fusion-defective insertional mutants using artificial fusion techniques Brooklyn College Science Research Day (2003).
• Aksoy, M.* and Forest, C.L. Cloning a gamete fusion gene using insertional fusion-defective mutants. 67th Annual Meeting of the Northeast section of the American Society of Plant Biologists. (2003).
• Aksoy, M,* and Forest, C.L. Cloning the Chlamydomonas gamete fusion gene. Brooklyn College Science Research Day, (2003).
• Navarro, K.*, Aksoy, M.* and Forest, C.L. Genetic analysis of fusion-defective insertional mutants using artificial fusion techniques MARC meeting, (2003).
• Forest, C.L. and Mims, D.C. * Cloning a gametic fusion-associated gene in Chlamydomonas by genomic complementation. Brooklyn College Science Research Day, (2001).
• Noel, C.*, Jean-Louis, M.*, and Forest, C.L. Isolation of a fusion gene using genomic complementation. Brooklyn College Science Research Day, 1998.
• Han, C.*, La, T.* and Forest, C.L. Dissecting the stages of mating structure adhesion and fusion using fusion-defective mutants. Eighth Int. Conf. Cell and Molec. Biol. of Chlamydomonas, (1998).
• Han, C.* and Forest, C.L. Analysis of a transformed, adhesion-defective mating mutant. Brooklyn College Science Research Day. (1997).
• Sakur, N.A*. and Forest, C. L. The effect of Gibberellin A7 (GA7) on gametogenesis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. 61st Annual Meeting of the Northeast section of the American Society of Plant Physiologists, (1997).
• Burks-Agoro, K.E*. and Forest, C.L. The effects of gadolinium (GdCl3) on mating of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. 61st Annual Meeting of the Northeast section of the American Society of Plant Physiologists, (1997).

Mapping the plasma membrane proteins of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. (1995-1998). PSC-CUNY. Three, 1 year grants.

PSC-CUNY: TAIL-PCR cloning of the Chlamydomonas gamete fusion gene 7/1/06-6/30/07

NIH-R15: Cloning and Analysis of a Gamete Fusion Gene 4/1/07-3/31/10

CUNY Ph.D. program in Biology (subprogram of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology)

CUNY Ph.D. program in Biochemistry.

Ph.D. Student:

Munevver Aksoy

Masters Students:

• Niomi Mitchell
• Guoixang Fan
• Salahudin Bholai
• Patty Evers
• Bertholin Pierre

Undergraduate Students:

• Kamel Robel
• Riza Seit-Khalil
• Hanzel Friday
• Josh Leinwand
• Elina Shkolnik
• Yevgeny Gililov
• Tehila Abramowitz
• Ciji Martial
• Filza Nasim