Dr. Edward Wallace, the Institute of Cell Biology at the University of Edinburgh
Dr. Edward Wallace, Group Leader at the Institute of Cell Biology at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, will present: "RNA-binding proteins that control fungal growth, and their surprising history"
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My group studies how organisms respond to their environment, focusing on molecular mechanisms that control protein synthesis in fungal models. We collect and analyze genome-scale datasets to understand how fungi dynamically reorganize their RNA and protein to adapt to environmental change. A regulatory system of RNA-binding proteins controls cell wall protein production in fungi, and affects cell growth, cytokinesis, and fungal pathogenicity. We've used diverse evolutionary, bioinformatics, sequencing, and structural approaches to understand this system, especially the conserved Ssd1/Sts5/gul-1 RNA-binding protein. We showed in detail how Ssd1 controls translation by binding near the start codon of mRNAs. We hypothesise that Ssd1 controls local production of proteins near the growing tip of fungal cells. Surprisingly, the Ssd1 protein evolved from an ancestral protein with a very different molecular function. Overall, the work is a model example of how regulatory pathways evolve to enable organisms to adapt to their environment.I am an open science advocate. My group has published bioinformatics packages to analyse gene expression data (ribosome profiling, qPCR), we thoroughly share data and analysis code for our research, and we train others to do so including teaching data literacy to scientists working with The Carpentries organisation.
Visit Dr. Edward Wallace's website.
