Prof. Dr. Ann Ehrenhofer-Murray

Work in the Molecular Cell Biology Lab investigates epigenetic and epitranscriptomic mechanisms of transcriptional and translational regulation using unicellular yeasts as model organisms.

The goal of the epigenetic research is to obtain insights into how DNA is packaged in the eukaryotic nucleus in chromatin, and how posttranslational modifications on histones and other chromatin proteins regulate their function in gene expression and gene silencing. The lab has a particular interest in the structure and function of heterochromatin complexes. Furthermore, they have identified posttranslational modifications on the centromeric histone H3 variant (CENP-A) and are studying their function in regulating protein-protein interactions at the kinetochore. Altogether, this work provides insights into how epigenetic modifications contribute to organizational principles in the genome of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The epitranscriptomics work focuses on how chemical modifications of (t)RNAs impact their function in translation. A specific interest is to characterize cross-talk between modifications and to study if they are functionally interwoven. They have found a tRNA modification cycle that is controlled by a nutritional supplement and that modulates global translation. Current work seeks to obtain an integrated view of cross-modification cross-talk in the epitranscriptome and to understand its functional implications in health and disease.