An ambitious EC-funded research initiative on epigenetics advancing towards systems biology

Our group is interested in how DNA is organized and packaged into chromatin in the eukaryotic nucleus. Differences in chromatin packaging determine where and when genes are expressed and which genomic regions are constantly silenced. In these processes, histones, the basic packaging units, are enzymatically modified, for instance by acetylation and methylation, which regulates the binding of higher chromatin factors to the chromatin. In our group, we investigate the molecular mechanisms of the influence of chromatin on DNA function in budding yeast and flies. We seek to determine how an organism assures the correct temporal and spatial expression of genes that is essential for normal growth and development. We are especially interested in how histone acetylation is deposited in the genome, and how acetylation patterns are reestablished after DNA replication. Moreover, we are investigating how silencing factors are directed to defined genomic regions to establish heterochromatic domains and which influence histone modifications and other chromatin proteins have on gene repression.

PhDs involved in research on EpiGeneSys projects:

• Tanja Vieregge (Role of post-translational modifications on a histone variant in Saccharomyces cerevisiae)
• Christian Reiter (Genome-wide histone acetylation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae)