This study highlights the impact of the noncoding side of the genome on neuronal differentiation. It reveals that the nuclear long noncoding RNA HOTAIRM1 contributes to shape human neurogenesis through a novel regulatory circuit, in which it controls the expression of the master regulator of neuronal fate, NEUROGENIN 2, and its downstream neurogenic cascade.
The identification in living cells of the protein FUS, crucially involved in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), as a direct interactor of HOTAIRM1 in motoneurons, together with the presence of a cytoplasmic isoform of HOTAIRM1 in motoneuron soma and neurites (yellow arrows), open the way for investigating a possible implication of this noncoding transcript in neurodegeneration.
IBPM reference researchers: Pietro Laneve and Elisa Caffarelli
6/12/2019
IBPM at the Book Exhibition "Più libri più liberi": event on the DNA - WATCH THE VIDEO
Documents: PLPL_2019_PROGRAMMA_CNR.pdf
07/11/2019
In the school-work alternation project led by Maura Cardarelli and Patrizia Brunetti at IBPM, students of the Pascal High School train to use "green" technologies based on plant molecular biology to decontaminate soil from arsenic
Source: Rassegna Stampa CNR
08/10/2019
The 2019 Nobel prize to Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the ability of cells to adapt to oxygen levels
Comment by Alessandro Giuffrè
Source: https://www.cnr.it/rassegnastampa/19-10/191008/AJ1YUC.tif
23/07/2019
Astrobiology. ASI, the Italian Space Agency, supports the project "LIFE IN SPACE", including the IBPM Unit coordinated by Giovanna Costanzo. On PLATINUM https://platinum-online.com/, the new magazine distributed by Il Sole 24 ore
10/07/2019
Meeting with delegation from Ikiam University, Ecuador
Documents: Meeting with delegation from Ikiam University.pdf
Meet in Italy for Life Sciences 2019
28/03/2019
This study highlights a novel role of the metabolic enzyme serine hydroxymethyl transferase (SHMT), in supporting the high proliferative capacity of cancer cells.
Cancer cells, especially in particularly aggressive tumors, e.g. lung carcinoma, have increased nutritional demands compared to normal cells. Understanding how tumor cells reprogram their metabolism to meet these demands, therefore, is key to understand the mechanisms that support the aberrantly high proliferation rate of cancer cells. The researchers have now identified a specific RNA that binds to and controls the function of the SHMT enzyme in the cytoplasm, while at the same time regulating the expression of a specific isoform found in mitochondria, the energy-producing centers of the cell.
The discovery paves the way for innovative therapies, aimed at designing nucleic acid molecules capable to act as metabolic "switches", so as to starve the tumor cells and hence block their proliferation.
This collaborative study is a joint effort between researchers from the Department of Biochemical Sciences "A. Rossi Fanelli" at the University La Sapienza and the Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology (IBPM-CNR), in collaboration with the Department of Biology and Biotechnology (Sapienza), the Center for Genomic Regulation of Barcelona and the Catalan Institute of Oncology of Girona.
IBPM reference person: angela.tramonti@uniroma1.it
https://academic.oup.com/nar/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nar/gkz129/5365575
https://academic.oup.com/nar/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nar/gkz129/5365575
12/03/2019
13/02/2019
Alternanza Scuola-Lavoro: novanta ore per studiare antibiotici e SLA
16/01/2019
During mitotic division genomic DNA is equally partitioned between the daughter cells, and several cellular machineries are reorganized to ensure faithful chromosome segregation. For example, cellular processes such as transcription and mRNA processing (“splicing”) are shut down during mitosis. The work by Pellacani et al. shows that two splicing factors, Sf3A2 e Prp31, are not inactive during mitosis but directly mediate proper kinetochore- microtubule interactions. These findings open the way to future research aimed at identifying new “moonlighting proteins” involved in both nuclear processes occurring during interphase and regulation of mitosis. An accurate understanding of mitosis at the molecular level is crucial to elucidate the mechanisms of tumorigenesis and develop new anti-cancer therapies.
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DUCHENNE DISTROPHY: ENGINEERING A NEW ARTIFICIAL GENE FOR THERAPEUTIC PURPOSES
Documents: Press Review
PLANT MOCLECULAR BIOLOGY
"FRESH AS AN EXITRON": A NEW GROWTH REGULATORY MECHANISM DISCOVERED IN PLANTS
see Editorial Highlight in Plant Cell
