The 4th Tsuneko & Reiji Okazaki Award 2018
Cyril Zipfel (University of Zurich)
Yukiko Yamashita
University of Michigan Ann Arbor;
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Satellite DNA is a massive stretch of repetitive DNA, predominantly present at the centromeric and pericentromeric regions of the chromosomes in most of eukaryotes. Despite widespread existence of satellite DNA, little is known about their potential functions, being considered mostly as ‘junk DNA’. Recent studies in my laboratory have revealed the role of pericentromeric satellite DNA as a critical organizer of nucleus in Drosophila and mammalian cells. Pericentromeric satellite DNA and its binding proteins are required to form ‘chromocenter’, a cytologically defined nuclear architecture documented over a century ago. Our study reveals that the chromocenter is required to dictate the singularity of the nuclear envelope formation: in the absence of chromocenter, nuclear envelope is formed around individual chromosomes, leading to micronuclei formation. These results reveal an unappreciated, critical function of satellite DNA in cellular functions. Furthermore, our work indicate that the incompatibility between satellite DNA sequences and satellite binding proteins may underlie speciation during evolution.
Date | Monday, December 12th, 2016 |
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Time | 14:20 - 15:35 |
Place | Noyori Conference Hall, Nagoya University |
Website | https://www.itbm.nagoya-u.ac.jp/istbm-4/lecturers.html |
Cyril Zipfel (University of Zurich)
Marina Barna (Stanford University, USA)
Feng Zhang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)