BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 14.3//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Arab Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230101 TZNAME:Arab Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:+0300 TZOFFSETTO:+0300 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:Host: Professor Kyle LauersenAbstract: Over\n 90% of our genes are interrupted by regions\, called introns\, that must \nbe \;removed from the corresponding transcripts prior to their translation\n into prot ein. The process \;by which introns are removed from pre-mRNA is\n ref erred to as splicing\, and it is carried out by a \;multi-megadalton \ ncomplex of proteins and small\, nuclear RNAs. Humans have more \nthan&nbs p\;200\,000 introns\, suggesting either an aggressive neutral mechanism \n for their proliferation or \;else selection for some beneficial functi on. \nGiven the complexity of human splicing\, it has been \;challengi ng to gain a\n comprehensive understanding of the roles that introns play. My lab \nhas \;therefore turned to the thermoacidophilic red alga C. merolae\, whose\n intron complement has \;shrunk from nearly 2000 ance strally to only 38 \ntoday. We have shown that the splicing \;machiner y has correspondingly \nbeen dramatically reduced. To investigate why 38 i ntrons might be \nretained\, we have been systematically deleting C. merol ae's introns\, as \nwell as studying its splicing responses under a variet y of conditions. \nWe find that some introns accumulate in response to hea t stress\, \nsuggesting that the introns themselves play a role in adaptin g to \nheat. \;Our results add to a growing body of work suggesting th at introns \nare not merely junk that \;needs to be removed\, but in f act have inherent \nroles that support cellular responses to \;environ mental change.Bio: Dr.\n Stephen Rader is a Professor of Biochemistry at t he University of \nNorthern British Columbia in Prince George. He earned h is Ph.D. in X-ray\n crystallography and protein dynamics under the supervi sion of David \nAgard at UC San Francisco. For his postdoctoral work\, he joined the lab \nof Christine Guthrie\, also at UCSF\, where he entered th e exciting world \nof RNA science and learned the tools of yeast genetics and biochemistry.\n After starting his own lab at UNBC in \;2003\, he sought a thermophilic \nsystem with which to investigate pre-mRNA splicing \, and \;eventually began\n working with C. merolae\, whose genome had recently been \nsequenced. \;Despite the challenges of developing a c ompletely new \nsplicing system\, C. merolae continues to yield surprises and insights \ninto the evolution of introns and splicing. When he is not studying \;RNA\,\n Professor Rader enjoys backpacking and back-country skiing. DTEND:20220418T150000Z DTSTAMP:20240328T102010Z DTSTART:20220418T140000Z LOCATION:Zoom SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:What have introns done for you lately? Investigations of the functi on and evolution of introns in a new model system\, the red alga Cyanidios chyzon merolae UID:RFCALITEM638472288106178559 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:
Host: Professor Kyle Lauer sen
Abstract:
Over\n 90% of our genes are inter
rupted by regions\, called introns\, that must \nbe \;removed from the
corresponding transcripts prior to their translation\n into protein. The
process \;by which introns are removed from pre-mRNA is\n referred to
as splicing\, and it is carried out by a \;multi-megadalton \ncomplex
of proteins and small\, nuclear RNAs. Humans have more \nthan \;200\,0
00 introns\, suggesting either an aggressive neutral mechanism \nfor their
proliferation or \;else selection for some beneficial function. \nGiv
en the complexity of human splicing\, it has been \;challenging to gai
n a\n comprehensive understanding of the roles that introns play. My lab \
nhas \;therefore turned to the thermoacidophilic red alga C. merolae\,
whose\n intron complement has \;shrunk from nearly 2000 ancestrally t
o only 38 \ntoday. We have shown that the splicing \;machinery has cor
respondingly \nbeen dramatically reduced. To investigate why 38 introns mi
ght be \nretained\, we have been systematically deleting C. merolae's intr
ons\, as \nwell as studying its splicing responses under a variety of cond
itions. \nWe find that some introns accumulate in response to heat stress\
, \nsuggesting that the introns themselves play a role in adapting to \nhe
at. \;Our results add to a growing body of work suggesting that intron
s \nare not merely junk that \;needs to be removed\, but in fact have
inherent \nroles that support cellular responses to \;environmental ch
ange.
Bio:
Dr.\n Stephen Rader is a Professor o
f Biochemistry at the University of \nNorthern British Columbia in Prince
George. He earned his Ph.D. in X-ray\n crystallography and protein dynamic
s under the supervision of David \nAgard at UC San Francisco. For his post
doctoral work\, he joined the lab \nof Christine Guthrie\, also at UCSF\,
where he entered the exciting world \nof RNA science and learned the tools
of yeast genetics and biochemistry.\n After starting his own lab at UNBC
in \;2003\, he sought a thermophilic \nsystem with which to investigat
e pre-mRNA splicing\, and \;eventually began\n working with C. merolae
\, whose genome had recently been \nsequenced. \;Despite the challenge
s of developing a completely new \nsplicing system\, C. merolae continues
to yield surprises and insights \ninto the evolution of introns and splici
ng. When he is not studying \;RNA\,\n Professor Rader enjoys backpacki
ng and back-country skiing.