MATEUSZ ZELKOWSKI, Dipl. MSc Eng. in Biotechnology (Poland)
[email protected]
Work group: Chromosome Structure and Function (Dept. Breeding Research)
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Klaus Pillen, Dr. A. Houben
Ph.D. student since February 2014
The role of the Smc5/6 complex in monocentric and holocentric plant species.
Structural maintenance of chromosome (SMC) is a member
of a large ATPase protein family. Representatives of SMCs are
cohesins which have a role in sister chromatid cohesion, condensins
which are essential for the condensation of chromosomes and
finally the Smc5/6 complex. The Smc5/6 complex has been mainly
described as a DNA repairing complex, but there are evidences that
this complex has an influence on chromosome stability, dynamics
and DNA replication too. Depletion of Smc5/6 subunits leads to
sister chromatid cohesion defects in yeast, chicken and human
cells. Nevertheless the role of the Smc5/6 complex in plants is still
unclear.
In order to address its function in plants, I intend to analyse
the Smc5/6 subunits NSE3 (AT1G34770), NSE4a (AT1G51130),
NSE4b (AT3G20760), SMC5 (AT5G15920) in monocentric Arabidopsis thaliana and holocentric Luzula
elegans in detail. Therefore I will employ T-DNA insertion line mutants targeted to Smc5/6 genes,
transgenic approaches like overexpression and gene silencing to determine phenotypic effects and its
role in plant development. The generation of specific antibodies and YFP-reporter lines in A. thaliana
will allow the localization of Smc5/6 proteins during the mitotic and meiotic cell division.