Project Details
Projekt
Purification of RNP complexes involved in RNA nuclear export
Applicant
Professor Dr. Iain W. Mattaj
Subject Area
Cell Biology
Term
from 2001 to 2008
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5468076
The organisation of biological systems is ultimately based on two principles, self-organisation and mechanisms of symmetry breaking. Macromolecular components of the cell self-associate into the molecular structures and machines which are the structural and functional components of cells. To generate the complexity of forms found in biology, energy-dependent mechanisms are required by which the overall organisation of such structures can be displaced from an equilibrium, or symmetrical, distribution. One such mechanism is the directed localisation of messenger RNAs to specific cellular sub-domains. Translation of these localised mRNAs gives rise to asymmetrically distributed proteins that play significant roles in cell differentiation and organism development. The existence of asymmetrical subcellular domains is a pre-requisite for the generation of nonidentical daughter cells. These in turn are needed to generate differentiated organs and tissues. The mechanisms by which certain cellular mRNAs become asymmetrically localised is still largely unknown and is the subject of this application.
DFG Programme
Research Units
