Objective
Telomeres have long been known to play crucial roles in protecting chromosome ends from attrition and fusion and thus safeguarding genome stability, but their complete functional repertoire has yet to be fully understood. Among the fundamental roles of telomeres is their role in meiosis, the process by which parental genomes are recombined and halved, allowing the generation of genetic diversity via sexual reproduction. As cells progress from mitotic to meiotic cycles, telomere functions change radically as all telomeres gather to a small region of the nuclear periphery near the centrosome to form the telomere bouquet . While this bouquet is widely conserved, the challenges of manipulating meiosis in most eukaryotes has made bouquet function a matter of speculation until recently. We utilize the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe as a model to study telomeres, as this organism provides a powerful combination of genetic manipulability and striking conservation of chromosomal structure/function with human. Recently, we made the unexpected discovery that the bouquet controls the behavior of meiotic centrosomes and spindles. Furthermore, we find that the bouquet is required not only for proper spindle formation, but also for attachment of meiotic chromosomes to the spindle via their centromeres. Using molecular genetics, quantitative live analysis and biochemistry, we propose to define the mechanisms by which the gathered telomeres control spindle behavior. We will also investigate what aspect of the telomere confers proper centromere-spindle attachment and what goes wrong at centromeres in cells lacking the bouquet. These studies will illuminate mechanisms of communication between chromosomes and the spindle apparatus that should be widely conserved among eukaryotes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology molecular genetics
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics heredity
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics chromosomes
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
ERC-2009-AdG
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Host institution
E20 1JQ LONDON
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.