Project description
Special yeast helps uncover basic mechanisms of nuclear membrane systems
During cell division, the nuclear envelope (NE) – a membrane barrier separating the nucleus from the cytoplasm in eukaryotic cells – must break down and reform to allow chromosomes to separate and new nuclei to form. Different organisms handle this process differently. The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces japonicus is a simple yet excellent model for studying NE remodelling because its mitosis avoids the complex NE dynamics seen in higher organisms. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the NERemodelJaponicus project will investigate how key proteins, including Lem2 and Aurora B kinase, impact NE breakdown and reformation. The proposed research should help uncover these mechanisms, providing further clues into how errors in NE remodelling can lead to problems linked to developmental disorders and cancer.
Objective
Mitosis ensures faithful inheritance of genetic material in proliferating eukaryotic cells. Cellular genome is compartmentalized inside the nucleus, which is delimited by the double-membrane nuclear envelope (NE). The NE must be restructured during mitosis to allow chromosome segregation by the mitotic spindle and formation of the daughter nuclei. Eukaryotes perform this task using diverse approaches, ranging from fully “open” to fully “closed” mitosis depending on whether and when the NE breaks down. The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces japonicus breaks the NE in anaphase, unlike its well-known relative S. pombe that undergoes closed mitosis. S. japonicus has already become an excellent discovery model providing critical insights into the rules underlying NE expansion and rearrangements of NE-chromatin contacts. Yet, we know little about the mitotic signalling and the effector mechanisms driving NE breakdown and reformation in this organism. Importantly, S. japonicus is uniquely suited for understanding mitotic nuclear membrane remodelling, as its mitosis does not involve the elaborate NE dynamics of higher eukaryotes, including disassembly and reassembly of nuclear pore complexes. I will combine cell biology, protein biochemistry, genetics, and next-generation sequencing approaches to understand: (1) how the evolutionarily conserved inner nuclear membrane protein Lem2 controls mitotic NE remodelling; (2) what are the molecular mechanisms of mitotic NE remodelling downstream of the important mitotic kinase Aurora B; and (3) what other novel factors drive NE breakdown and reformation in mitosis. Defects in NE remodelling result in spindle malfunction, aneuploidy and chromosome rearrangements that may compromise normal development and promote tumorigenesis. My work will provide a stripped-down view of membrane remodelling underlying NE breakdown and reformation in S. japonicus, with insights likely to be relevant to the open mitosis of metazoans, including humans.
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 biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics chromosomes
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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WC2R 2LS London
United Kingdom
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