Biological physics of protein clustering in epigenetic memory and transcriptional control
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
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Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Mark Leake (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Leake M
(2023)
A guide to small fluorescent probes for single-molecule biophysics
in Chemical Physics Reviews
Watson GD
(2022)
Structural interplay between DNA-shape protein recognition and supercoiling: The case of IHF.
in Computational and structural biotechnology journal
Schnitzer B
(2022)
The effect of stress on biophysical characteristics of misfolded protein aggregates in living Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells.
in Experimental gerontology
Hunter P
(2022)
Single-molecule and super-resolved imaging deciphers membrane behavior of onco-immunogenic CCR5.
in iScience
Dilliway C
(2022)
Working at the interface of physics and biology: An early career researcher perspective
in iScience
Laidlaw KME
(2021)
A glucose-starvation response governs endocytic trafficking and eisosomal retention of surface cargoes in budding yeast.
in Journal of cell science
Shepherd J
(2021)
Combining single-molecule super-resolved localization microscopy with fluorescence polarization imaging to study cellular processes
in Journal of Physics: Photonics
Payne-Dwyer AL
(2022)
RecA and RecB: probing complexes of DNA repair proteins with mitomycin C in live Escherichia coli with single-molecule sensitivity.
in Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
Shashkova S
(2021)
Correlating single-molecule characteristics of the yeast aquaglyceroporin Fps1 with environmental perturbations directly in living cells.
in Methods (San Diego, Calif.)
Dresser L
(2021)
Amyloid-ß oligomerization monitored by single-molecule stepwise photobleaching.
in Methods (San Diego, Calif.)
Description | We developed a new type of light microscopy to allow us to track key proteins in root tips that are involved in regulating whether or not plants flower (a process called vernalization). We have found clear evidence that two of these proteins called Vin3 and Vrn5 operate in clusters of typically 5-20 molecules. This ties in really well with theory modeling that suggested that a "memory" effect for this type of flowering regulation must be due to their being multiple copies of the memory elements. These findings may tell us how general gene memory modifications (so called "epigenetics") are regulated in multiple different organisms, including increasing our understanding of the onset of human diseases such as cancer. |
Exploitation Route | This work will offer new insights into researchers studying how genes are regulated in living cell. It will also inform researchers who wish to understand how genetic disease start, and how they might be prevented. |
Sectors | Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
URL | https://sites.google.com/a/york.ac.uk/mark-leake-group/home |