Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment
School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Dr Bernhard Dichtl |
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| 1) The role and regulation of alternative polyadenylation in health and disease. Pre-mRNA 3’ end formation is an essential RNA maturation step that impacts on virtually all aspects of mRNA function. The process adds a tail of approximately 250 adenosines to the 3’ end of mRNA and determines the length of the 3’ Un-Translated Region (3’UTR), which is targeted by a large number of regulatory factors. Control of 3’UTR length via alternative Polyadenylation (APA) is an important mechanism to control gene expression. We are interested in the regulation of APA and how it is integrated with cellular signaling pathways. 2) The function and regulation of the Set1C histone methyltransferase. Histone modifying enzymes regulate diverse processes that occur in association with chromatin. We performed extensive yeast two-hybrid screening in order to identify novel cellular roles for the Set1C chromatin-modifying enzyme. This resulted in a recent publication in Science (Acquaviva et al., 2013), where we identified the molecular mechanisms, which link chromatin modification of histone H3 lysine 4 to the formation of double strand DNA breaks, to initiate the process of meiotic recombination. 3) Co-translational protein complex formation. Multi-protein complexes constitute some of the most relevant molecular units of cellular function. Despite their important role it remains mysterious how eukaryotic cells manage to assemble with precision hundreds of different complexes in the crowded cytoplasmic compartment that produces thousands of nascent proteins at the same time. Recently published work from our laboratory demonstrated that assembly of protein complexes can be initiated on nascent proteins as they emerge from the ribosome. We are currently investigating the functional significance of co-translational protein interactions (see illustration). Research interests
CareerLecturer, Deakin UniversityResearch group leader, University of Zurich, Switzerland Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Basel, Switzerland PhD, EMBL Heidelberg and University of Edinburgh Key publicationsAcquaviva L§, Székvölgyi L§, Dichtl B¶, Dichtl BS, de La Roche Saint André C¶, Nicolas A¶, Géli V¶, §Equal contribution; ¶corresponding author (2013) The COMPASS subunit Spp1 links histone methylation to initiation of meiotic recombination Science 339, 215-218Halbach, A., Zhang, H., Wengi, A., Jablonska, Z., Gruber, IM., Halbeisen, RE., Dehe, PM., Kemmeren, P., Holstege, F., Geli, V., Gerber, AP. and Dichtl, B. (2009) Cotranslational assembly of the yeast SET1C histone methyltransferase complex The EMBO Journal 28(19), 2959-2970 Holbein, S., Wengi, A., Decourty, L., Freimoser, FM., Jacquier, A. and Dichtl, B. (2009) Cordycepin interferes with 3' end formation in yeast independently of its potential to terminate RNA chain elongation RNA 15(5), 837-849 Dichtl, B., Aasland, R. and Keller, W. (2004) Functions for S. cerevisiae Swd2 in 3' end formation of specific mRNAs and snoRNAs and global histone 3 lysine 4 methylation RNA 10(6), 965-977 Dichtl, B., Blank, D., Sadowski, M., Hubner, W., Weiser, S. and Keller, W. (2002) A role for SSU72 in balancing RNA polymerase II transcription elongation and termination Molecular Cell 10(5), 1139-1150 View entire list of audited publications Professional activitiesMember Faculty of 1000Member of the RNA Society Member of Swiss Society for Cell Biology, Molecular Biology and Genetics Reviewer for grant agencies Ad Hoc reviewer for various journals Postdoctoral fellowsNameProject titleDr Beatriz DichtlRegulation and assembly of the Set1C histone methyltransferase Honours studentsStudent nameThesis title Amelia SummersThe role of hClp1 in pre-mRNA 3-end formation and alternative polyadenylationTeaching areasBiochemistry |
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8th February 2013