主讲人：马尔科姆•怀特（Malcolm F White）

       英国University of St Andrews教授

       爱丁堡皇家学会院士

       欧洲分子生物学组织 (EMBO)成员

       国际期刊Biochemical Journal副主编

时间：2014年4月25号（星期五） 10:30

地点：闵行校区生物药学楼树华多功能厅（800号）

主讲人简介：

Malcolm F White是英国University of St Andrews教授、英国爱丁堡皇家科学院院士、欧洲分子生物学组织 (EMBO)成员。现任圣安德鲁斯大学生物学院科研院长，英国生物技术与生物科学研究理事会(BBSRC)委员，兼任生化领域著名国际期刊Biochemical Journal副主编。他综合运用生物化学、分子生物学、蛋白质组学、生物信息学等方法，研究核酸相关代谢机制，在古菌DNA损伤修复和基于CRISPR的抗病毒机制方面取得了令人瞩目的研究成就，是活跃在微生物遗传学研究前沿领域的著名学者，在古菌遗传学和结构生物学研究领域具有很大影响力。

报告摘要：

Archaea frequently inhabit extreme environments and thus face challenges in maintaining functional cellular structures and macromolecules, in particular DNA which must be repaired efficiently. The fundamental relationship between the archaea and eukarya means that studies of the former can shed light on processes and proteins essential for human health. This talk will focus on recent research in our laboratory on the Nucleotide Excision Repair (NER) pathway in the model crenarchaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus, which grows in volcanic pools at 80°C. NER removes bulky lesions such as photoproducts from DNA. Lesions are detected, DNA unwound locally and nicks introduced on either side of the damage to release an oligonucleotide “patch” containing the damage. The gapped product is then repaired by DNA synthesis. The enzymatic components of eukaryal NER are the XPB and XPD helicases (components of transcription factor TFIIH) and the XPF and XPG nucleases. By studying these enzymes in archaea we can gain important insights into human health and disease. A second challenge facing most living things is the threat posed by viruses and other mobile genetic elements. The recently discovered CRISPR system is a prokaryotic adaptive immune system that provides RNA-mediated defence against invading nucleic acid entities. Recent work in our laboratory on the Type III Interference machines of the CRISPR system will be described.