Understanding the mechanisms of DNA repair, one molecule at a time

The Passmore lab uses biochemical reconstitution, structural biology and functional studies to gain mechanistic insights into mRNA processing, mRNA stability and genome integrity - fundamental processes that affect all eukaryotes. DNA must be passed on faithfully from cell to cell and across generations. This lecture will discuss work on the Fanconi anaemia DNA repair pathway and how it contributes to genome integrity. Specifically, it will cover mechanistic studies of a multi-protein, megadalton E3 ubiquitin ligase and its substrate, FANCD2-FANCI. The Passmore lab discovered that FANCD2-FANCI is a DNA clamp that slides on DNA and this promotes identification of specific lesions.

Speaker: Lori Passmore, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology