Periodic Reporting for period 2 - LoopingDNA (Bottom up biophysics approach to resolve the looping structure of chromosomes)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-01-01 bis 2023-06-30
This project studies so-called SMC protein complexes (SMC = Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes). These ring-shaped proteins are a unique new type of molecular motors that can extrude large loops of DNA that are thought to be the basis of chromosome structure. Using single-molecule biophysics techniques, we discover many of the basic properties of these fascinating molecular motors. We extend this to even build a chromosome from the bottom up, in a ‘genome-in-a-box’ approach where we will take genome-length bare DNA and add SMC protein complexes and other DNA-processing proteins.
Main results so far include many findings on these SMC proteins - resolving how they work mechanistically.
Next, we will expand these experiments and start building chromosomes from the bottom up.