The regulation and fidelity of gene expression is of paramount importance for the maintenance and differentiation of all living organisms. While attention historically has been focused on the process of gene activation (transcription), the past two decades have highlighted an equally important contribution to gene regulation at the post-transcriptional level. The Centre for mRNP Biogenesis and Metabolism studies the crosstalk between transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes, which establishes a network of interdependencies that ultimately regulate gene expression. Our focus is on structure/function relationships of mRNP formation and its quality control as well as the occurrence, and putative function, of non-coding RNA transcription.

 

So far our efforts have led to several important discoveries, including:

• yeast cryptic unstable transcripts (CUTs) and human promoter upstream transcripts (PROMPTs)
• the elucidation of regulatory principles for mRNP quality control in the nucleus and the cytoplasm
• the "reverse" cross-talk between mRNA processing and transcription
• key structures of RNP factors and complexes