Eukaryotic genomes are organized into distinct chromatin domains that are critical for gene expression, genome integrity and cellular identity. Our group seeks to understand the regulation of transcriptionally repressed heterochromatin by dissecting the functional networks and molecular mechanisms that control its spatial organization, and by determining the dynamics and regulatory pathways in response to environmental changes. For this, our lab employs genome-wide screens, functional genomics, live-cell imaging, molecular biology and biochemistry. As a model, we use the powerful fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe), which harbors many of the conserved hallmarks of heterochromatin that are also present in P. falciparum and other pathogens. This makes this unicellular eukaryote an ideal genetic model system for studying mechanistic and systems-relevant questions in heterochromatin silencing.

We recently discovered that heterochromatin localization and silencing are controlled through a conserved nuclear membrane protein. Our unpublished data further demonstrate that the gene repression function of this nuclear membrane protein is altered upon environmental changes. This raises exciting questions about how stress signals, peripheral chromatin localization and gene expression are functionally linked. Besides, we seek to understand how boundaries between active and inactive heterochromatin change to accommodate gene expression programs under different conditions.

Heterochromatin, gene repression, chromatin boundaries, nuclear architecture, subtelomeres

Schizosaccharomyces pombe (fission yeast)