Project Details
Projekt
SFB 646: Networks in Genome Expression and Maintenance
Subject Area
Biology
Term
from 2005 to 2016
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5486242
In order to express and maintain their genome, cells use a multitude of macromolecular machines that are built up by multiprotein or RNA-protein complexes. The activities of many of these machines are well coordinated to achieve synergism or to avoid deleterious effects that could lead to cell death or disease.
The aim of the Collaborative Research Centre is to study the interactions between multiprotein complexes that govern essential processes associated with eukaryotic genomes. Such complexes are involved in processes such as transcription of the genome, faithful duplication of the genome followed by segregation of the two genomes, or preservation of the genome by DNA repair. It will be crucial for our understanding of processes in normal and malignant cells to obtain detailed insights into the function and structure but also into the coordination of the underlying multiprotein complexes.
In the past decade, considerable progress was made by identification and functional/structural characterisation of individual protein complexes that carry out processes connected to the expression or maintenance of the genome. These complexes include the transcription key enzyme RNA polymerase II, ribonucleoprotein complexes for RNA transport, components of the mitotic cell division apparatus, and DNA repair enzymes.
With our improved knowledge of these assemblies, we must now try to reach the next level of understanding, which involves the regulation of multiprotein complexes in a cell context-specific manner, and the functional and physical coupling of different protein complexes that results in regulatory networks. Although still in its infancy, this aspect of understanding genome expression and maintenance will certainly flourish over the next 10-15 years and requires the underlying networks at all levels of organisation of cells, from the molecular to the cellular level. Molecular coupling events in these networks ensure the correct transfer of substrates and information between interlinked processes, and allow for coordination and feedback control. The Collaborative Research Centre will therefore focus on the elucidation of the highly complex interplay between genome-associated processes, and work towards an understanding of the underlying regulatory networks .
The aim of the Collaborative Research Centre is to study the interactions between multiprotein complexes that govern essential processes associated with eukaryotic genomes. Such complexes are involved in processes such as transcription of the genome, faithful duplication of the genome followed by segregation of the two genomes, or preservation of the genome by DNA repair. It will be crucial for our understanding of processes in normal and malignant cells to obtain detailed insights into the function and structure but also into the coordination of the underlying multiprotein complexes.
In the past decade, considerable progress was made by identification and functional/structural characterisation of individual protein complexes that carry out processes connected to the expression or maintenance of the genome. These complexes include the transcription key enzyme RNA polymerase II, ribonucleoprotein complexes for RNA transport, components of the mitotic cell division apparatus, and DNA repair enzymes.
With our improved knowledge of these assemblies, we must now try to reach the next level of understanding, which involves the regulation of multiprotein complexes in a cell context-specific manner, and the functional and physical coupling of different protein complexes that results in regulatory networks. Although still in its infancy, this aspect of understanding genome expression and maintenance will certainly flourish over the next 10-15 years and requires the underlying networks at all levels of organisation of cells, from the molecular to the cellular level. Molecular coupling events in these networks ensure the correct transfer of substrates and information between interlinked processes, and allow for coordination and feedback control. The Collaborative Research Centre will therefore focus on the elucidation of the highly complex interplay between genome-associated processes, and work towards an understanding of the underlying regulatory networks .
DFG Programme
Collaborative Research Centres
Completed projects
- A01 - Integration of genome-associated processes by the RNA polymerase II-Mediator complex (Project Head Cramer, Patrick )
- A02 - Function and regulation of human Mediator complexes in nuclear networks (Project Head Meisterernst, Michael )
- A03 - Degradation of irreversibly stalled RNA polymerase II (Project Head Sträßer, Katja )
- A04 - Single molecule nano-positioning studies of transcription (Project Head Michaelis, Jens )
- A05 - Coordination of nuclear mRNA maturation and cytoplasmic RNA localization (Project Head Jansen, Ralf-Peter )
- A06 - Signalling in Myogenesis (Project Head Rupp, Ralph A. W. )
- A09 - Structural basis of eukaryotic non-stop mediated mRNA decay and mammalian translation initiation (Project Heads Becker, Thomas ; Beckmann, Roland )
- A10 - Integration of mRNA export and transcription elongation (Project Head Conti, Elena )
- A11 - Evolutionary and functional analysis of cis-regulatory sequences (Project Head Söding, Johannes )
- A12 - An RNA-centered view on the journey of ASH1 mRNA from transcription to localization (Project Head Niessing, Dierk )
- A13 - A small RNA response at DNA ends (Project Head Förstemann, Klaus )
- A14 - Detection of condition-specific transcription factor interactions (Project Head Tresch, Achim )
- A16 - Thermodynamic modelling of transcriptional regulation: improving input data and exploring cis-element architecture (Project Head Gaul, Ulrike )
- A17 - A transcriptional regulatory network that controls the apoptotic fate (Project Head Conradt, Barbara )
- B01 - The chemistry of nucleotide excision repair and cellular development (Project Head Carell, Thomas )
- B02 - Structural mechanism of the Swi2/Snf2 ATPases in genome expression and maintenance (Project Head Hopfner, Karl-Peter )
- B04 - Mechanism of homology search during DNA double-strand break repair (Project Head Jentsch, Stefan )
- B05 - Regulation of immunoglobulin gene conversion and hypermutation (Project Head Buerstedde, Jean-Marie )
- B07 - Role of human ORC in preparing origins for pre-replicative complex formation (Project Head Schepers, Aloys )
- B08 - Integration of cortex- and microtubule-associated proteins into the machinery which regulates mitotic spindle positioning (Project Head Petritsch, Claudia )
- B09 - Chromosome segregation: how to preserve genomic integrity during cell division? (Project Head Nigg, Erich A. )
- B10 - Regulation of DNA modifications and their role in controlling gene expression (Project Head Leonhardt, Heinrich )
- B11 - Elucidating the interaction of transcription factors with the TBP:DNA complex using single-molecule methods (Project Head Lamb, Don C. )
- B12 - Cryo-EM structure of heterochromatin protein 1 associated with nucleosomes (Project Head Halic, Mario )
- B13 - Mechanistic insight into genome-maintenance catalysed by the histone chaperone FACT (Project Head Ladurner, Ph.D., Andreas Gerhard )
- Z02 - Central tasks of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 646 (Project Heads Beckmann, Roland ; Cramer, Patrick )
Applicant Institution
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Business and Industry
Helmholtz Zentrum München
Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt; Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie (MPIB)
Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt; Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie (MPIB)
Spokespersons
Professor Dr. Roland Beckmann, since 7/2014; Professor Dr. Patrick Cramer, until 7/2014
