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We all want to have a long life in good health. This is impossible without high quality food. Our group is interested in finding out how plants can grow well, even if environmental conditions are not optimal. This knowledge can help to provide farmers of the future with improved seed material for high quality and quantity harvests, as a basis for healthy human nutrition.
Adaptation of plants to changing environmental conditions requires sophisticated signal transduction and compensation strategies. Virtually all signal transduction pathways encompass steps to modify proteins already present in the cell. Such posttranslational modifications can occur by attaching a small protein to the substrate. The modifier proteins ubiquitin and small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) are the focus of our research. We use biochemical and genetic tools to study modification pathways, in particular the N-degron (formerly N-end rule) pathway for ubiquitin conjugation, and a recently discovered pathway that links several SUMO proteins as a chain to the substrate. Both pathways have important functions in signal transduction for environmental adaptation.
Andreas Bachmair studied in Vienna, where he also got his PhD (with Helmut Ruis, 1984). After a postdoctoral stay with Alex Varshavsky (MIT, Cambridge, USA; 1985-1988), he stayed at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (Cologne, Germany) as a postdoc with Jeff Schell (1988-1991) and then joined the Institute of Botany of the University of Vienna (1991-2002). He moved to the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (Cologne, Germany) as a group leader (2002-2008), before taking an Associate Professor position at the Max Perutz Labs. Since 2019, he is a full professor at the Max Perutz Labs.
The amino terminus of a protein is frequently modified, e.g. by addition of acetyl groups, or by proteolytic cleavage to generate the mature protein, or a protein variant. So-called N-recognins bind to amino termini to influence the protein half life. We are interested in N-recognins for amino-terminal Leu in plants. We identified mutants that stabilize a model protein with Leu amino terminus. Mutated genes are investigated to understand the biological significance of this protein degradation pathway.
Proteins can be covalently linked to SUMO. In most cases, one SUMO moiety is added. We have recently discovered that the SUMO conjugation machinery chooses specific proteins for attachment of SUMO chains, whereas other substrates obtain only single SUMO moieties (Tomanov et al., 2018, Biochem J 475: 61-68). A SUMO chain probably leads to proteolytic destruction of the substrate, due to the existence of SUMO chain binding ubiquitin ligases. We are studying this process with the help of mutants and in vitro reconstruction of the reaction.
A Yeast-Based Functional Assay to Study Plant N-Degron N-Recognin Interactions
Kozlic, Aida; Winter, Nikola; Telser, Theresia; Reimann, Jakob; Rose, Katrin; Nehlin, Lilian; Berckhan, Sophie; Sharma, Gunjan; Dambire, Charlene; Boeckx, Tinne; Holdsworth, Michael J.; Bachmair, Andreas
Cellular Control of Protein Turnover via the Modification of the Amino Terminus.
Winter, Nikola; Novatchkova, Maria; Bachmair, Andreas
The Scope, Functions, and Dynamics of Posttranslational Protein Modifications.
Millar, A Harvey; Heazlewood, Joshua L; Giglione, Carmela; Holdsworth, Michael J; Bachmair, Andreas; Schulze, Waltraud X
Distinct branches of the N-end rule pathway modulate the plant immune response.
Vicente, Jorge; Mendiondo, Guillermina M; Pauwels, Jarne; Pastor, Victoria; Izquierdo, Yovanny; Naumann, Christin; Movahedi, Mahsa; Rooney, Daniel; Gibbs, Daniel J; Smart, Katherine; Bachmair, Andreas; Gray, Julie E; Dissmeyer, Nico; Castresana, Carmen; Ray, Rumiana V; Gevaert, Kris; Holdsworth, Michael J
Sumoylation and phosphorylation: hidden and overt links.
Tomanov, Konstantin; Nukarinen, Ella; Vicente, Jorge; Mendiondo, Guillermina M; Winter, Nikola; Nehlin, Lilian; Weckwerth, Wolfram; Holdsworth, Michael J; Teige, Markus; Bachmair, Andreas
SUMO chain formation relies on the amino-terminal region of SUMO-conjugating enzyme and has dedicated substrates in plants.
Tomanov, Konstantin; Nehlin, Lilian; Ziba, Ionida; Bachmair, Andreas
FWF Special Research Program (SFB) F 7904 TP4 N-degron pathways in plants
Project title: “Novel tasks of the plant N-end rule degradation pathway" (P 31114)”
The project supports research on the N-end rule pathway. One specific research question is how proteins that carry an amino-terminal Leucine are degraded in plants.
The project supports training of PhD students in "Molecular Mechanisms to Improve Plant Resilience" (see: mentor.univie.ac.at).
18th Microsymposium on RNA Biology
The „Microsymposium on RNA Biology“ is an international conference that brings together young scientists, junior and senior group leaders, and company representatives from all over the world to present and discuss their latest findings in the exciting field of small RNAs and beyond. The Microsymposium was founded in 2005 and has established itself as the major small RNA meeting in Europe. It is organized by the four research institutions IMBA, IMP, GMI and the Max Perutz Labs as well as by the RNA community of the Vienna BioCenter.
Transformation Reactions of Organic Contaminants and Oxygen: From Field Sites to Reaction Mechanisms
Nickel impact on human health, from bacterial infections to cancer
Multiscale plant bioimaging using advanced microscopy
Parthenogenesis, cryptobiosis, and the survival in extreme environmental conditions
Evading ageing: Mitochondrial and proteostatic adaptations in oocytes
Genomes in Rhodnius prolixus symbiotic system
Stem cells, immune evasion and metastasis in colorectal cancer
Ubiquitin & Friends Symposium 2024
The Ubiquitin & Friends Symposium is an annual international meeting taking place in the beautiful capital of Austria, aiming to bring together scholars from various fields studying ubiquitin/Ubl biology and protein degradation in a personal, family-like atmosphere, as suggested by the name.
The evolution and development of mollusc shells
Unraveling the Complexity of Crossover Regulation in C. elegans
Dynamics of 3D Genome Structure and Function
How superworms can help to solve our plastic waste crisis
Title to be announced
New players in an old pathway: biology of methanogens of the TACK superphylum
Shaping morphogen gradients: from molecules to tissues and back
Title to be announced
Studying stressed cells by in situ structural biology
Exploring Microbial Resilience: Unravelling Escherichia coliand#x27;s Stress Response at the Level of Protein Synthesis
Arbuscular mycorrhiza development and function
Deep homology and deep diversity: Evolving genetic toolkits for making and sensing light
The evolution of cell type identity and tissue microecology at the fetal-maternal interface
The unanticipated roles of PICIs and phages in bacterial evolution
Chemical targeting of subcellular protein localization
Origin and diversification of gut-derived organs in chordates
Job's Dilemma for the Genome: Why Bad Things Happen to Good Chromosomes
Connections between carbon and nitrogen cycling in the ocean
Understanding how the DNA-loop-extruding protein complex Condensin folds a chromatinized genome into mitotic chromosomes
From Roads to Rivers? Occurrence and environmental fate of tire and road wear particles and of tire-related chemicals
FENS 2024 Satellite event: Home cage behavior monitoring at the interface of animal welfare and neuroscience
Striking physiology and cell biology of (marine) environmental microorganisms
Mechanisms controlling maintenance of cohesin dependent loops
Title to be announced