Skip to Content

Sponsors

No results

Tags

No results

Types

No results

Search Results

Events

No results
Search events using: keywords, sponsors, locations or event type
When / Where
All occurrences of this event have passed.
This listing is displayed for historical purposes.

Presented By: Department of Chemistry

Divergent Roles of Dicer’s Helicase Domain in Antiviral Defense

Brenda Bass

Viruses were once thought to be the sole source of long double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) in animal cells, but the Bass laboratory identified numerous long dsRNAs that are genomically encoded and expressed in animals, including humans. dsRNA-binding proteins enable cells to distinguish the “good” cellular dsRNA from the “bad” viral dsRNA, but how they do this is not completely understood. Our current studies are focused on how a conserved helicase domain distinguishes “self” versus “non-self” dsRNA, and how this function has diverged in vertebrates and invertebrates. We used ancestral sequence reconstruction to infer amino acid sequences of the helicase domain of ancestral Dicers, enabling comparisons of its enzymatic activity with that of modern-day Dicer enzymes.
Brenda Bass

Co-Sponsored By

Explore Similar Events

  •  Loading Similar Events...

Back to Main Content