Start
Feb 28, 2017 - 16:00
End
Feb 28, 2017 - 17:00
Venue
Room. No. 240 Chemical Engg. Dept.
Event Type
Speaker
Arthur G. Hunt Professor Department of Plant and Soil Sciences University of Kentucky Lexington USA
Title
Mechanisms and consequences of alternative polyadenylation in plants
Abstract: Messenger RNA 3’ end formation – the process by which the primary transcript is cleaved and polyadenylated – is a near-universal feature of gene expression in eukaryotes. The relative position at which the precursor mRNA is cleaved and polyadenylated determines the ultimate protein-coding potential of the mRNA as well as other functional aspects of the mRNA. Most eukaryotic pre-mRNAs have more than one potential poly(A) site and the choice of site often can vary during development or in response to environmental stimuli. In most cases however the means by which sensory cues are linked with poly(A) site choice are not known. In plants one such connection involves a core subunit of the polyadenylation complex CPSF30. CPSF30 is a small RNA binding protein whose activities are regulated in vitro by calmodulin and by reagents that modify disulfide linkages in proteins. In the plant CPSF30 plays roles in numerous processes including root growth and responses to oxidative stress. Interestingly calmodulin-mediated regulation is important for the functioning of CPSF30 in root growth but not responses to oxidative stress. Our studies indicate that CPSF30 is a multifaceted transducer of signaling cues and that it links different pathways with alternative polyadenylation growth and development. (At IIT Prof Hunt also intends squeezing in a few words about very inexpensive RNA-Seq libraries as this subject almost always generates lots of interest.)Biosketch: Prof Hunt is at the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Kentucky at Lexington KY USA. He is also the Director of Graduate Studies Plant Physiology Graduate Program at the University of Kentucky. He finished his Ph.D. in 1982 from Brandeis University Massachusetts where he studied the energetics of osmotic shock-sensitive active transport in Escherichia coli. His lab studies RNA processing in plants with an emphasis on mRNA 3' end formation and polyadenylation. The approaches taken are multi-faceted and include genetic molecular and biochemical ones. The specific projects being pursued revolve around questions pertaining to mechanisms of mRNA 3' end formation and to the connections between this process and regulatory events. Extensive use is made of the model organisms Arabidopsis thaliana Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.