SPP 1129:  Epigenetics

Epigenetics is the study of mechanisms and consequences of mitotically stable gene expression patterns that are not based on variation in the DNA sequence, but on differential DNA methylation, chromatin modifications and posttranscriptional mechanisms. Altered epigenetic states have been implicated in a number of human diseases including cancer, the low efficiency of animal cloning by nuclear transfer, and the inactivation of (trans-) genes in animals and plants. Hence epigenetic research has major implications for medicine, pharmacy and agriculture. Specific epigenetic phenomena include the reprogramming of genomes during differentiation and development, repeat induced gene silencing, genomic imprinting, X-chromosome inactivation, position effect variegation, RNA interference and posttranscriptional gene silencing and the inheritance of aquired traits. In recent years these seemingly different biological phenomena have been found to be based on related molecular mechanisms. The program brings together human-, animal- and plant- geneticists, molecular biologists and biochemists, who are experts on such basic epigenetic model systems. The aim of the program is to combine their expertise into a scientific network of collaborations and exchange to further develop unifying concepts and delineate evolutionarily conserved mechanisms of epigenetic regulation relevant for biomedical and biotechnological research.

DFG Programme Priority Programmes

• A genetic screen for new Polycomb group genes in Drosophila melanogaster and biochemical purification of novel PcG protein complexes (Applicant Müller, Jürg )
• Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and associated tumors: Identification of factors essential for imprinting mechanisms (Applicant Prawitt, Dirk )
• Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and associated tumors - Identification of factors essential for imprinting mechanisms (Applicant Prawitt, Dirk )
• Biochemistry and biological function of mammalian Dnmt1 (Applicants Jeltsch, Albert ;  Leitges, Michael )
• Biochemistry and biological function of mammalian Dnmt1 (Applicant Leitges, Michael )
• DNA methylation mutants: Generic molecular tools to identify cereal genes controlling gene expression and regulation (Applicant Christou, Paul )
• DNA-methylation reprogramming during early embryogenesis (Applicant Walter, Jörn E. )
• Functional characterization of DNA methylation in Drosophila (Applicant Lyko, Frank )
• Gene and imprinting defects in patients with Prader-Willi and Angelman syndrome (Applicant Buiting, Karin )
• Gene silencing by RNAi and DNA Methylation (Applicant Nellen, Wolfgang )
• Identification of regulatory elements responsible for genomic imprinting in mammals (Applicant Paulsen, Martina )
• Initiation and epigenetic stability of gene silencing in Drosophila (Applicant Reuter, Gunter )
• Interbands: Epigenetic mechanisms of the formation of domains and boundaries on interphase chromosomes (Applicant Saumweber, Harald )
• Investigations on epigenetic modulation during pre-implantation embryonic gene expression and its significance for the incidence of the large offspring syndrome (Applicant Niemann, Heiner )
• Maintenance and modification of epigenetic information: Coordination of DNA replication and methylation during the cell cycle and in development (Applicant Leonhardt, Heinrich )
• Mechanisms of RASSF1A tumor suppressor gene inactivation by de novo methylation of the promoter CpG island during carcinogenesis (Applicant Dammann, Reinhard )
• Parent-specific methylation reprogramming in early embryos: implications for mammalian development and embryo biotechnology (Applicant Haaf, Thomas )
• Plants as a modell system to analyze epigenetic phenomena (Applicant Wassenegger, Michael )
• Reestablishment of epigenetic patterns of histone modification after DNA replication and chromatin assembly in S. cerevisiae (Applicant Ehrenhofer-Murray, Ann Elizabeth )
• Replication and translation of epigenetic information (Applicant Cardoso, Maria Cristina )
• Targeting of dosage compensation complex to the male X chromosome in Drosophila (Applicant Akhtar, Ph.D., Asifa )
• The role of intergenic transcripts in the epigenetic control of rRNA gene transcription (Applicant Grummt, Ingrid )

Spokespersons Professor Dr. Bernhard Horsthemke; Professor Dr. Jörn E. Walter