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Dixie Mager, Ph.D.

Dixie Mager

Professor
Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia
Member, Genetics, UBC
Terry Fox Laboratory
Tel: 604-675-8139
Fax: 604-877-0712
Email:
dmager

Research interests: Regulation of natural killer cell receptor genes, impact of transposable elements on mammalian genes, role of DNA methylation/epigenetics in gene expression. Roles of human transposable elements in genome evolution and gene regulation, endogenous retroviruses, comparative genomics, bioinformatics. Regulation and genomic analysis of natural killer cell receptor genes. Role of epigenetics in transcriptional control of immune system genes.


Selected Publications:
Rouhi A, Lai CB, Cheng TP, Takei F, Yokoyama WM & Mager DL. Evidence for high bi-allelic expression of activating Ly49 receptors.  Nucleic Acids Res  37: 5331-5342, 2009.

Cohen C, Lock W & Mager DL. Endogenous retroviral LTRs as promoters for human genes: a critical assessment.  Gene  Epub ahead of print.

Hotta A, Cheung AYL, Farra N, Vijayaragavan K, Seguin CA, Draper JS, Pasceri P, Maksakova IA, Mager DL, Rossant J, Bhatia M & Ellis J. Isolation of human iPS cells using EOS lentiviral vectors to select for pluripotency.  Nat Methods 6: 370-376, 2009.

Romanish MT, Nakamura H, Lai CB, Wang Y & Mager DL. A novel protein isoform of the multicopy human NAIP gene derives from intragenic Alu SINE promoters.  PLoS One 4: e5761, 2009.

Lai CB, Zhang Y, Rogers SL & Mager DL. Creation of the two isoforms of rodent NKG2D was driven by a B1 retrotransposon insertion.  Nucleic Acids Res  37: 3032-3043, 2009.

Maksakova IA, Zhang Y, van de Lagemaat LN & Mager DL. Preferential epigenetic suppression of the autonomous MusD over the non-autonomous ETn mouse retrotransposons.  Mol Cell Biol 29: 2456-2468, 2009.

Dong KB, Maksakova IA, Mohn F, Leung D, Appanah R, Lee S, Yang HW, Lam LL, Mager DL, Schubeler D, Tachibana M, Shinkai Y & Lorincz MC. DNA methylation in ES cells requires the lysine methyltransferase G9a but not its catalytic activity.  EMBO J 27: 2691-2701, 2008.

Maksakova IA, Mager DL & Reiss D. Keeping active endogenous retroviral elements in check: the epigenetic perspective.  Cell Mol Life Sci 65 (Suppl. Endogenous Retroviruses): 3329-3347, 2008.

Rouhi A, Mager DL, Humphries RK & Kuchenbauer F. MiRNAs, epigenetics and cancer.  Mamm Genome  19: 517-525, 2008.

Zhang Y, Maksakova IA, Gagnier L, van de Lagemaat LN & Mager DL. Genome-wide assessments reveal extremely high levels of polymorphism of two active families of mouse endogenous retroviral elements.  PLoS Genet 4:e1000007, 2008.

Reiss D, Zhang Y, & Mager DL. Widely variable endogenous retroviral methylation levels in human placenta. Nucleic Acids Res 35 (14): 4743-54, 2007.

Wilson EB, Parachoniak CA, Carpenito C, Mager DL, & Takei F. Expression of murine killer immunoglobulin-like receptor KIRL1 on CD1d-independent NK1.1(+) T cells. Immunogenetics 59 (8): 641-51, 2007.

Romanish MT, Lock WM, van de Lagemaat LN, Dunn CA, & Mager DL. Repeated recruitment of LTR retrotransposons as promoters by the anti-apoptotic locus NAIP during mammalian evolution. PLoS Genet 3 (1): e10, 2007.

Reiss D, & Mager DL. Stochastic epigenetic silencing of retrotransposons: does stability come with age? Gene 390 (1-2): 130-5, 2007.

Rouhi A, Brooks CG, Takei F, & Mager DL. Plasticity of Ly49g expression is due to epigenetics. Mol Immunol 44 (5): 821-6, 2007.

van de Lagemaat LN, Medstrand P, & Mager DL. Multiple effects govern endogenous retrovirus survival patterns in human gene introns. Genome Biol 7 (9): R86, 2006.

Gerlo S, Davis JR, Mager DL, & Kooijman R. Prolactin in man: a tale of two promoters. Bioessays 28 (10): 1051-5, 2006.

Rogers SL, Rouhi A, Takei F, & Mager DL. A role for DNA hypomethylation and histone acetylation in maintaining allele-specific expression of mouse NKG2A in developing and mature NK cells. J Immunol 177 (1): 414-21, 2006.

Rouhi A, Gagnier L, Takei F, & Mager DL. Evidence for epigenetic maintenance of Ly49a monoallelic gene expression. J Immunol 176 (5): 2991-9, 2006.

Maksakova IA, Romanish MT, Gagnier L, Dunn CA, van de Lagemaat LN, & Mager DL. Retroviral elements and their hosts: insertional mutagenesis in the mouse germ line. PLoS Genet 2 (1): e2, 2006.

Dunn CA, Romanish MT, Gutierrez LE, van de Lagemaat LN, & Mager DL. Transcription of two human genes from a bidirectional endogenous retrovirus promoter. Gene 366 (2): 335-42, 2006.

Maksakova IA, & Mager DL. Transcriptional regulation of early transposon elements, an active family of mouse long terminal repeat retrotransposons. J Virol 79 (22): 13865-74, 2005.

van de Lagemaat LN, Gagnier L, Medstrand P, & Mager DL. Genomic deletions and precise removal of transposable elements mediated by short identical DNA segments in primates. Genome Res 15 (9): 1243-9, 2005.

Dunn CA, van de Lagemaat LN, Baillie GJ, & Mager DL. Endogenous retrovirus long terminal repeats as ready-to-use mobile promoters: the case of primate beta3GAL-T5. Gene 364: 2-12, 2005.

Medstrand P, van de Lagemaat LN, Dunn CA, Landry JR, Svenback D, & Mager DL. Impact of transposable elements on the evolution of mammalian gene regulation. Cytogenet Genome Res 110 (1-4): 342-52, 2005.

Dunn CA, & Mager DL. Transcription of the human and rodent SPAM1 / PH-20 genes initiates within an ancient endogenous retrovirus. BMC Genomics 6 (1): 47, 2005.

Wilhelm BT, & Mager DL. Rapid expansion of the Ly49 gene cluster in rat. Genomics 84 (1): 218-21, 2004.

Baillie GJ, van de Lagemaat LN, Baust C, & Mager DL. Multiple groups of endogenous betaretroviruses in mice, rats, and other mammals. J Virol 78 (11): 5784-98, 2004.

Mager DL & Medstrand P. Retroviral repeat sequences. In:  Nature Encyclopedia of the Human Genome., Vol. 5, Nature Publishing Group, pp 57-63, 2003.

Landry JR, Mager DL, & Wilhelm BT. Complex controls: the role of alternative promoters in mammalian genomes. Trends Genet 19 (11): 640-8, 2003.

Baust C, Gagnier L, Baillie GJ, Harris MJ, Juriloff DM, & Mager DL. Structure and expression of mobile ETnII retroelements and their coding-competent MusD relatives in the mouse. J Virol 77 (21): 11448-58, 2003.

van de Lagemaat LN, Landry JR, Mager DL, & Medstrand P. Transposable elements in mammals promote regulatory variation and diversification of genes with specialized functions. Trends Genet 19 (10): 530-6, 2003.

Dunn CA, Medstrand P, & Mager DL. An endogenous retroviral long terminal repeat is the dominant promoter for human beta1,3-galactosyltransferase 5 in the colon. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 100 (22): 12841-6, 2003.

Wilhelm BT, Landry JR, Takei F, & Mager DL. Transcriptional control of murine CD94 gene: differential usage of dual promoters by lymphoid cell types. J Immunol 171 (8): 4219-26, 2003.

Landry JR, & Mager DL. Functional analysis of the endogenous retroviral promoter of the human endothelin B receptor gene. J Virol 77 (13): 7459-66, 2003.

Wilhelm BT, & Mager DL. Identification of a new murine lectin-like gene in close proximity to CD94. Immunogenetics 55 (1): 53-6, 2003.

Gagnier L, Wilhelm BT, & Mager DL. Ly49 genes in non-rodent mammals. Immunogenetics 55 (2): 109-15, 2003.

Wilhelm BT, Gagnier L, & Mager DL. Sequence analysis of the ly49 cluster in C57BL/6 mice: a rapidly evolving multigene family in the immune system. Genomics 80 (6): 646-61, 2002.

Landry JR, Rouhi A, Medstrand P, & Mager DL. The Opitz syndrome gene Mid1 is transcribed from a human endogenous retroviral promoter. Mol Biol Evol 19 (11): 1934-42, 2002.

Landry JR, & Mager DL. Widely spaced alternative promoters, conserved between human and rodent, control expression of the Opitz syndrome gene MID1. Genomics 80 (5): 499-508, 2002.

Medstrand P, van de Lagemaat LN, & Mager DL. Retroelement distributions in the human genome: variations associated with age and proximity to genes. Genome Res 12 (10): 1483-95, 2002.

Baust C, Baillie GJ, & Mager DL. Insertional polymorphisms of ETn retrotransposons include a disruption of the wiz gene in C57BL/6 mice. Mamm Genome 13 (8): 423-8, 2002.

McQueen KL, Wilhelm BT, Harden KD, & Mager DL. Evolution of NK receptors: a single Ly49 and multiple KIR genes in the cow. Eur J Immunol 32 (3): 810-7, 2002.

Landry JR, Medstrand P, & Mager DL. Repetitive elements in the 5’ untranslated region of a human zinc-finger gene modulate transcription and translation efficiency. Genomics 76 (1-3): 110-6, 2001.

Takei F, McQueen KL, Maeda M, Wilhelm BT, Lohwasser S, Lian RH, & Mager DL. Ly49 and CD94/NKG2: developmentally regulated expression and evolution. Immunol Rev 181: 90-103, 2001.

Wilhelm BT, McQueen KL, Freeman JD, Takei F, & Mager DL. Comparative analysis of the promoter regions and transcriptional start sites of mouse Ly49 genes. Immunogenetics 53 (3): 215-24, 2001.

Mager DL, McQueen KL, Wee V, & Freeman JD. Evolution of natural killer cell receptors: coexistence of functional Ly49 and KIR genes in baboons. Curr Biol 11 (8): 626-30, 2001.

McQueen KL, Wilhelm BT, Takei F, & Mager DL. Functional analysis of 5’ and 3’ regions of the closely related Ly49c and j genes. Immunogenetics 52 (3-4): 212-23, 2001.
 
Medstrand P, Landry JR, & Mager DL. Long terminal repeats are used as alternative promoters for the endothelin B receptor and apolipoprotein C-I genes in humans. J Biol Chem 276 (3): 1896-903, 2001.

Mager DL, & Freeman JD. Novel mouse type D endogenous proviruses and ETn elements share long terminal repeat and internal sequences. J Virol 74 (16): 7221-9, 2000.

Mager DL, Hunter DG, Schertzer M, & Freeman JD. Endogenous retroviruses provide the primary polyadenylation signal for two new human genes (HHLA2 and HHLA3). Genomics 59 (3): 255-63, 1999.

McQueen KL, Lohwasser S, Takei F, & Mager DL. Expression analysis of new Ly49 genes: most transcripts of Ly49j lack the transmembrane domain. Immunogenetics 49 (7-8): 685-91, 1999.

Kowalski PE, Freeman JD, & Mager DL. Intergenic splicing between a HERV-H endogenous retrovirus and two adjacent human genes. Genomics 57 (3): 371-9, 1999.

Medstrand P, & Mager DL. Human-specific integrations of the HERV-K endogenous retrovirus family. J Virol 72 (12): 9782-7, 1998.

McQueen KL, Freeman JD, Takei F, & Mager DL. Localization of five new Ly49 genes, including three closely related to Ly49c. Immunogenetics 48 (3): 174-83, 1998.

Kowalski PE, & Mager DL. A human endogenous retrovirus suppresses translation of an associated fusion transcript, PLA2L. J Virol 72 (7): 6164-8, 1998.

Takei F, Brennan J, & Mager DL. The Ly-49 family: genes, proteins and recognition of class I MHC. Immunol Rev 155: 67-77, 1997.
 
Brennan J, Lemieux S, Freeman JD, Mager DL, & Takei F. Heterogeneity among Ly-49C natural killer (NK) cells: characterization of highly related receptors with differing functions and expression patterns. J Exp Med 184 (6): 2085-90, 1996.