Chromatin Biochemistry
To sustain life in different environments, cells and organisms must
adjust to different conditions and external cues. In contrast to immediate and
mostly transient responses to short-term stimuli, processes of long-term
adaptation require lasting changes in gene expression patterns. Such changes
are considered epigenetic as they provide an inheritable principle of gene
control. On a molecular stage, epigenetic processes are directed on the level
of chromatin, the packaging form of eukaryotic genomes. Here, DNA, the molecule
of inheritance, as well as histones, the major scaffolding proteins of
chromatin, are subject to a large variety of enzyme-directed, chemical
modifications. These chemical modifications correlate to direct distinct
structural and functional states of chromatin, thereby establishing
differential usage of the genome in cell type variation and specification.
Figure
1: Schematic representation of chromatin and its
different organization levels. In the "Laboratory of Chromatin
Biochemistry" we are aiming to understand how chromatin (i.e. DNA and
histone) modifications are read and translated for distinct functional states
of discrete areas of the genome.
Our
research aims to gain detailed and molecular understanding of fundamental
epigenetic processes. In particular, we are investigating how the chemical
modifications of chromatin are functionally translated in a cellular
environment (Figure 1). In this context, our focus is on specialized proteins,
RNAs, and small cellular signaling molecules. To address the complex interplay
of these factors from multiple angles, our laboratory is applying highly
interdisciplinary approaches. These include advancing technologies for
establishing and analyzing complex chromatin systems in the test tube by applying biochemistry and biophysics,
molecular and cellular biology studies of tissue culture cells, and the small
nematode C. elegans for investigating
essential chromatin components, as well as global and systematic analyses of the
general modules and networks of epigenetic regulation.