Structure and function of a cytoplasmic mRNA-localization complex from yeast

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Dierk Niessing
• Subject Area: Cell Biology
• Term: from 2007 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 33442413

Eukaryotic cells organize their inner life with the help of active transport processes. The asymmetric transport and localized translation of mRNA is a widespread mechanism for temporal and spatial control of gene expression. It is used during cellular processes such as asymmetric cell division, cell differentiation, or synaptic plasticity of neurons. mRNAtransport complexes usually consist of several proteins and RNAs. A comparably simple but well-studied model is the asymmetric localization of ASH1 mRNA during mitosis of the budding yeast. Here, all core factors are known and have been studied mostly genetically. The goal of the first funding period was to understand interactions of the core factors in the ASH1 mRNA transport complex and to initiate high-resolution structural studies. Based on these results, we are now able to in-vitro reconstitute transport-core complexes, consisting of up to four proteins and one RNA, as well as sub-complexes thereof. In the next funding period, we wish to use cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography in combination with biochemical approaches to solve the structure of the entire complex. We will also assess different subcomplexes by structural analysis and study their assembly quantitatively. This project is designed to yield a first structure-to-functional assessment of these molecular machines.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 855: Cytoplasmic Regulation of Gene Expression