Archana Dhasarathy, Ph.D., Associate Professor; and Rebecca Simmons, Ph.D., Professor
Project: Evolution of RNA vs. DNA binding abilities of transcription factors
Mentor: Archana Dhasarathy, Ph.D., Associate Professor; and Rebecca Simmons, Ph.D., Professor
Location: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Columbia Hall; and Department of Biology, Starcher Hall
Description: We study the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), which involves a cell state transition from an epithelial, attached and well-differentiated to a mesenchymal, migratory and less differentiated phenotype. The process of EMT is controlled by several transcription factors. While most research so far has focused on the DNA binding properties of transcription factors, RNA binding is being increasingly recognized as a property of some transcription factors, opening up new roles for these proteins in gene regulation. Two questions we would like to answer are (a) are there different protein motifs/ domains that are unique to RNA vs DNA binding proteins; and (b) how did RNA and DNA binding proteins evolve in terms of dual RNA AND DNA binding, vs single/unique RNA OR DNA binding? To answer this question, we will gather sequence data for loci that encode DNA and RNA binding proteins (DRBPs) across domains of life. We will use phylogenetic approaches to align these sequences, establishing homology, and then will use model-based maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches to construct evolutionary hypotheses for these genes. These hypotheses will be compared to accepted phylogenies for these organisms to understand how ancestry and convergence shaped the functional groups of these important proteins.
