Project Details
SFB 960: Ribosome Formation: Principles of RNP Biogenesis and Control of their Function
Subject Area
Biology
Term
from 2011 to 2023
Website
Homepage
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 185476941
Proteins and ribonucleic acids associate to form a large number of macromolecular complexes (ribonucleoprotein complexes, RNPs) in all living cells. Many of them are acting together as crucial players in numerous biological networks. Consequently, impaired RNP formation and function are linked to cellular malfunction and disease. Accordingly, analyses of dynamic RNP-assembly processes and the regulation of RNP function have been central topics in basic research.Formation and function of RNPs depend on the interplay of many RNA-producing or RNA-containing protein complexes. First, the regulated synthesis of the RNA component is critical for RNP formation and significantly influences RNA-maturation steps in space and time. Second, a functional network of many RNA-binding, RNA-modifying and RNA-folding complexes participates to mature emerging RNPs. Third, the interplay of different RNPs is essential for RNP activity, as exemplified by the regulation of ribosome activity, by microRNA-containing protein complexes (miRNPs), or regulation of transcription by long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) containing complexes. Investigation of processes leading to mature ribosomes served as a trailhead to understand principles of RNP biogenesis. Subsequently, projects dealing with ribosome function and formation of non-ribosomal RNPs were integrated during the first two funding periods, expanding the scope of the CRC. For the third funding period, particular emphasis is laid on understanding molecular mechanisms of assembly events of both maturating ribosomes and non-ribosomal RNPs and control of their function. This is reflected in the new title of the CRC960 “RNP biogenesis: assembly of ribosomes and non-ribosomal RNPs and control of their function”. This assures that the central focus of the CRC 960 – RNP biogenesis - remains the same, while non-ribosomal RNPs are now explicitly included. In summary, our combined efforts will further the understanding of common principles, specific features and mechanisms of RNP assembly. Several high-resolution structures of RNPs related to the topic of this CRC became available during the last funding period. Structures like those of eukaryotic pre-ribosomal particles, RNA polymerase I initiation- and elongation-complexes, and miRNA containing RNPs have a major impact on the progress of several ongoing CRC-projects. The option to determine high-resolution structures of RNPs on-site and to synergistically combine these structural studies with biophysical, biochemical and cell biological approaches lays an excellent basis for our research that aims to understand and explore the structure-function relationships as well as mechanisms and dynamics in RNP biology.
DFG Programme
Collaborative Research Centres
Completed projects
- A01 - Analyses of the RNA polymerase I (Pol I) machinery: specific transcriptional mechanisms and comparison with other RNA polymerases (Project Heads Griesenbeck, Joachim ; Milkereit, Philipp ; Tschochner, Herbert )
- A02 - Structure and function of RNA polymerase I and initiation factor Rrn3 (Project Head Cramer, Patrick )
- A03 - Structure function relationships in the archaeal transcription machinery (Project Head Thomm, Michael )
- A04 - Structure and function of RNP complexes targeting ncRNA to Chromatin (Project Head Längst, Gernot M. )
- A05 - Compositional and functional analysis of ribosomal RNA gene chromatin in distinct transcriptional states (Project Heads Griesenbeck, Joachim ; Milkereit, Philipp ; Tschochner, Herbert )
- A06 - Transcript elongation by RNA polymerase II and mRNA export in Arabidopsis (Project Head Grasser, Klaus )
- A07 - Dynamics of transcriptional complexes and interplay of the archaeal RNA polymerase with RNA processing proteins (Project Head Grohmann, Dina )
- A08 - Structural basis of RNA polymerase I transcription elongation (Project Head Engel, Christoph )
- B01 - Analyses of eukaryotic ribosome assembly (Project Heads Griesenbeck, Joachim ; Milkereit, Philipp ; Tschochner, Herbert )
- B02 - RNP complexes regulating the accessibility of higher order structures of chromatin (Project Head Längst, Gernot M. )
- B03 - Post-translation regulation of small RNA-guided gene silencing pathways (Project Head Meister, Gunter )
- B04 - Characterization of small RNA pathways in the nucleus of human somatic cells (Project Head Meister, Gunter )
- B05 - Gametogenesis-related small non-coding RNAs and Argonaute proteins in Arabidopsis (Project Head Sprunck, Stefanie )
- B06 - Assembly of cytoplasmic mRNPs and their function in regulating translation in Arabidopsis and maize embryogenesis (Project Head Dresselhaus, Thomas )
- B07 - Functional implication of miRNA processing in malignant melanoma (Project Head Bosserhoff, Anja-Katrin )
- B09 - Long noncoding RNAs in tissue homeostasis and disease (Project Head Kretz, Markus )
- B10 - Cdc123-mediated assembly of the translation factor eIF2: mechanism and significance (Project Heads Seufert, Wolfgang ; Sprangers, Remco )
- B11 - From regulation of alternative translation initiation to other aspects of post-transcriptional gene regulation: functional analyses of Sex-lethal and related proteins (Project Head Medenbach, Jan )
- B12 - How do the decapping enzymes DcpS and Dcp2 sense the length of the mRNA substrate? (Project Head Sprangers, Remco )
- B13 - Defining key principles of late small ribosomal subunit assembly in archaea (Project Head Ferreira-Cerca, Sébastien )
- B14 - Biogenesis and Function of RNA Polymerase III transcript-derived piRNAs in Neuroblastoma (Project Heads Heise, Ph.D., Tilman ; Sommer, Gunhild )
- MGK - Integrated Research Training Group Graduate Research Academy RNA Biology (Project Head Dresselhaus, Thomas )
- Z01 - Mass spectrometry of proteins (Project Heads Bruckmann, Astrid ; Deutzmann, Rainer )
- Z02 - Second generation sequencing and sequence bioinformatics (Project Heads Engelmann, Julia ; Längst, Gernot M. ; Meister, Gunter ; Merkl, Rainer )
- Z03 - Central Tasks of the Collaborative Research Centre (Project Head Tschochner, Herbert )
Applicant Institution
Universität Regensburg
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Herbert Tschochner