Principal investigator: Per Sunnerhagen
Members of the group: Eva Asp, Elizabeth
Bilsland-Marchesan, Claes Molin, Tim Olsson, Swarnalatha Swaminathan,
Zuzan Åkerblom
Description of projects
CELL CYCLE CHECKPOINT AND MAP KINASE SIGNALING
Research in our group deals with the mechanisms (called checkpoints)
by which a eukaryotic cell signals the presence of conditions that should
stop or delay cell cycle progression. Examples of such conditions are DNA
damage (will delay entry into mitosis or S phase) and unreplicated DNA
(will prevent mitosis). If this signalling is somehow perturbed, such as
in mutants affected in any of several genes essential for these pathways,
progression in the cell cycle will continue in spite of e.g. DNA damage.
As a result, such mutant cells will acquire a higher number of mutations.
Humans with the cell cycle checkpoint disorder Ataxia telangiectasia are
hypersensitive to ionizing radiation and have an increased cancer risk.
In our lab, we work mainly with the yeasts Schizosaccharomyces pombe
and Saccharomyces cerevisiae as genetic model organisms. We try
to work out the mechanisms of action and relationships between individual
checkpoint gene products. Among the issues we are studying are:
- protein-protein interactions of Sz. pombe checkpoint proteins
- dissection by mutational analysis of the involvement in individual checkpoint genes in the various aspects of checkpoint control
- telomere length control by Sz. pombe checkpoint genes
- the physiological roles of the S. cerevisiae RCK1 and RCK2 protein kinase genes, found as suppressors of Sz. pombe checkpoint mutations. The Rck2 protein is directly phosphorylated by the Hog1 MAP kinase.
Yeast genes of interest:
S. cerevisiae: RCK1, RCK2, RAD17, RAD24, MEC1, TEL1, HOG1Sz. pombe: rad1+, rad3+, rad9+, rad17+, rad26+, hus1+
Recent publications
Dept of Molecular Biology
Göteborg University
Lundberg Institute
Box 462
S-405 30 GÖTEBORG
SWEDEN
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