The Biophysics Virtual Seminar Series presents:

Dr. Samuel Butcher - Steenbock Professor of Biomolecular Structure, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison

“The epitranscriptome has been shaped by the co-evolution of RNA writer and reader proteins.”

ABSTRACT: The epitranscriptome is characterized by dozens of post-transcriptional chemical modifications to RNA.  These chemical modifications are catalyzed by enzymes, or “writers” that chemically mark both coding and non-coding RNAs.  The post-transcriptional marks are then read by protein “readers” that bind to the RNA modifications and help direct their cognate RNAs towards different pathways in the cell. I will present our work showing how RNA writers
and readers have co-evolved to shape the epitranscriptome input and output. A series of comparative molecular structures will be described that illustrate how very subtle changes in enzyme active sites of RNA modifying enzymes result in different chemical marks that have co-
evolved with RNA reader proteins, which can adopt modular quaternary structures that are specifically tuned to read different modifications. This co-evolution of RNA writers and readers impacts nearly every step of eukaryotic gene expression.

Join us on Zoom: https://umich.zoom.us/j/92759610297