Investigation of the O2-dependent function of HELZ, an RNA helicase interacting with the oxygen-sensing prolyl-4-hydroxylase PHD2

Objective

A crucial step in the adaptation of mammalian cells to oxygen deficiency is the transcriptional activation of hypoxia-inducible genes. Hypoxia-inducible transcription factors (HIFs) are master regulators for the up-regulation of these genes under physiological as well as pathophysiological conditions, such as tumor development and metastasis, cardiovascular diseases and inflammation. HIFs are O2-dependently hydroxylated at conserved prolyl residues by recently discovered prolyl-4-hydroxylase domain proteins (PHDs). Therefore, PHDs function as molecular oxygen sensors by determining the protein stability of HIFα subunits. Importantly, non-HIFα proteins have been reported to represent PHD hydroxylation substrates, indicating that O2-dependent prolyl hydroxylation might be a more common post-translational modification than previously expected. The aim of this grant application is to study the function of the RNA helicase HELZ that was identified to interact with PHD2. HELZ has been shown to be important for the function of SMYD3, a histone lysine methyltransferase which has been implicated in tumorigenesis. Preliminary data demonstrate O2-dependent regulation of HELZ protein abundance and suggest that HELZ might be a novel PHD2 hydroxylation substrate. The goal is to generate a conditional HELZ gene targeting model to characterize the O2-dependent function of HELZ in vivo and to investigate PHD2-dependent HELZ protein hydroxylation by mass spectrometry.

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.

• natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
• medical and health sciences clinical medicine cardiology cardiovascular diseases
• engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
• natural sciences biological sciences genetics RNA
• natural sciences chemical sciences analytical chemistry mass spectrometry

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

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.

• FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008 - Marie Curie Action: "Intra-European Fellowships for Career Development"

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

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MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator