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

Tandemly repeated satellite DNAs represent a large fraction of noncoding DNA located in heterochromatin and the centromere region of a chromosome. Single repeats or short stretches of the satellite DNA are also dispersed in the close vicinity of protein-coding genes within euchromatin. Such distribution indicates control of gene activity by the repeats of satellite DNA. Because the number of satellite repeats changes more frequently than other stretches of DNA do, we proposes that this setup allows the organism to evolve more quickly and to adapt to different environmental conditions.

My group studies the regulatory role of satellite DNA repeats and their possible activation upon different environmental conditions.

Members of the group:

• Dr. Isidoro Feliciello, postdoc
• Dr. Željka Pezer, postdoc
• Josip Brajković, PhD student
• Josip Parazajder, PhD student