Seminar

Regulatory RNA-binding proteins: from mechanistic reductionism to complete mRNA interactomes

Prof. Matthias Hentze

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) orchestrate virtually all aspects of RNA biology. These include roles as translational regulators whose functions we have studied by means of "reductionist" biochemical approaches investigating instructive model systems. I will present our recent work on the elucidation of a new RBP-driven (Sex Lethal) regulatory mechanism that could foreshadow a more generally applying principle for mRNAs harboring upstream open reading frames. I also plan to speak about rapidly progressing new work identifying "all" mRNA binding proteins (the "mRNA interactomes") of different mammalian cells, including evidence for the existence of RNA/enzyme/metabolite (REM) networks for the coordination of cell metabolism and gene expression.