Levi Yant, Esq.

I'm really interested in the genetic regulatory networks that control major developmental transitions and how they are recruited differently over evolutionary time.

Right now, I'm employing novel genome-scale approaches (ChIP-Seq, ChIP-chip, other microarray platforms) to disentangle the gene regulatory network governing in the reproductive transition to flowering.  I'm approaching this network both from the perspective of direct repressors and promoters of particular genetic nodes to gain a better understanding of the structure of a complex, yet tractable, gene network.

Aside from science, I love to ride bikes, climb, and read. 

 

Yant LJ, Mathieu J, Schmid M.  Just Say "no"; floral repressors help Arabidopsis bide the time.  Current Opinion in Plant Biology, in revision :) 

Mathieu J, Yant LJ, Mürdter F, Küttner F, Schmid M.  Repression of flowering by the miR172 target SMZ.  PLoS Biology, in press

 

Previous work I did in AIDS biology and aging research: 

1  Maness NJ, Yant LJ, Chung C, Friedrich TC, Piaskowski SM, Furlott J, May GE, Soma T, Leon EJ, Wilson NA, Piontkivska H, Hughes AL, Sidney J, Sette A, Watkins DI. Comprehensive immunological evaluation of elite controller and progressor, Mamu-B*17-positive SIV-infected rhesus macaques reveals surprisingly few differences. J.Virol 2008 June; 82(11):5245-54

2  Friedrich TC, Valentine LE, Yant LJ, Rakasz EG, Piaskowski SM, Furlott JR, Weisgrau KL, Burwitz B, May GE, León EJ, Soma T, Napoe G, Capuano III SV, Wilson N, and Watkins DI.  Subdominant CD8+ T-cell responses are involved in durable control of AIDS virus replication. J.Virol 2007 Feb; 81(7):3465-76

3  Wojcechowskyj JA, Yant LJ, Wiseman RW, and O’Connor DH.  Control of SIVmac239 is not predicted by inheritance of Mamu-B*17-containing haplotypes. J.Virol 2007 Jan; 81(1):406-410

4  Wilson NA, Reed J, Napoe GS, Piaskowski S, Szymanski A, Furlott J, Gonzalez E, Yant LJ, Maness M, May G, Soma T, Reynolds M, Rakasz E, Rudersdorf R, McDermott A, O’Connor DH, Friedrich TC, Allison DB, Patki A, Picker L, Burton DR, Lin J, Huang L, Patel D, Heindecker G, Fan J, Citron M, Horton M, Wang F, Liang X, Shiver JW, Casimiro DR, Watkins DI Vaccine-Induced Cellular Immune Responses Reduce Plasma Viral Concentrations After Repeated Low-Dose Challenge with Pathogenic SIVmac239. J.Virol 2006 June; 81(12):5875-85

5  Yant LJ, Friedrich TC, Johnson RC, May G, Maness NJ, Enz AM, Lifson J, O’Connor DH, Carrington M, Watkins DI.  The High Frequency MHC Class I Allele Mamu-B*17 is Associated with Control of SIVmac239 Replication. J.Virol 2006 May; 80(10): 5074-7

6  Loffredo JT, Rakasz EG, Giraldo JP, Spencer SP, Grafton KK, Martin SR, Napoe G, Yant LJ, Wilson NA, Watkins DI. Tat(28-35)SL8-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes are more effective than Gag(181-189)CM9-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes at suppressing simian immunodeficiency virus replication in a functional in vitro assay. J.Virol 2005 Dec;79(23):14986-91

7  O'Connor DH, McDermott AB, Krebs KC, Dodds EJ, Miller JE, Gonzalez EJ, Jacoby TJ, Yant LJ, Piontkivska H, Pantophlet R, Burton DR, Rehrauer WM, Wilson N, Hughes AL, Watkins DI.  A dominant role for CD8+-T-lymphocyte selection in simian immunodeficiency virus sequence variation. J.Virol 2004 Dec;78(24):14012-22

8  Friedrich TC, McDermott AB, Reynolds MR, Piaskowski S, Fuenger S, de Souza IP, Rudersdorf R, Cullen C, Yant LJ, Vojnov L, Stephany J, Martin S, O'Connor DH, Wilson N, Watkins DI.   Consequences of Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Escape: Common Escape Mutations in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Are Poorly Recognized in Naive Hosts J.Virol 2004;78(18):10064-10073

9  McDermott AB, Mitchen J, Piaskowski S, De Souza I, Yant LJ, Stephany J, Furlott J, Watkins DI.  Repeated low dose mucosal SIVmac239 challenge results in the same viral and immunological kinetics as high dose challenge; a model for the evaluation of vaccine efficacy in non-human primates.  J.Virol 2004 Mar;78(6):3140-4

10 Friedrich TC, Dodds E, Yant LJ, Rudersdorf R, Cullen C, Evans ET, Desrosiers RC, Mothé BR, Sidney J, Sette A, Kunstman K, Wolinsky S, Piatak M, Lifson J, Wilson N, O’Connor DH, Watkins DI.  Reversion of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) escape variant immunodeficiency viruses in vivo.  Nature Medicine 2004 Mar;10(3):275-81.1  

11 Friedrich TC, Frye CA, Yant LJ, O’Connor DH, Kriewaldt N, Benson M, Dodds EJ, Cullen C, Rudersdorf R, Hughes AL, Wilson N, Watkins DI.  Extra-epitopic compensatory substitutions restore fitness to simian immunodeficiency virus variants that escape from an immunodominant cytotoxic T-lymphocyte response.  J.Virol 2004 Mar;78(5):2581-5

12  Yant LJ, Ran Q, Rao L, Van Remmen H, Shibatani T, Belter JG, Motta L, Richardson A, Prolla TA.  The selenopotein GPX4 is essential for mouse development and protects from radiation and oxidative damage insults.  Free Radic. Biol. Med. 2003 Feb 15;34(4):496-502

 

Patent:

2007  “Novel Approach to Broaden and Strengthen Cellular Immune Responses for a Global AIDS Vaccine" Serial number P06251 12/022530

 

Abstracts/Posters:

June 2009: 2 posters, International Conference on Arabidopsis Research

March 2006: Keystone HIV Vaccine and Pathogenesis Symposium 

March 2005: Seattle International Conference on Primate Genomics