Speaker: Professor Samuel Butcher, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Biophysics of Spliceosome Assembly: Building The World's Largest And Most Dynamic Ribonucleoprotein Complex

Two defining characteristics of all eukaryotes are the presence of introns in their protein-coding genes and the spliceosome, the molecular apparatus responsible for removing them. The splicing machinery is essential to all eukaryotic organisms, including humans. However, many large gaps exist in our knowledge of spliceosome structure and function, due to its extremely large size, highly dynamic nature and low natural abundance. My laboratory investigates the molecular mechanics of spliceosome assembly. We apply biophysical tools(NMR, small angle X-ray scattering, fluorescence spectroscopy), in combination with genetic and biochemical approaches, to investigate the structure, function and dynamics of the RNA and proteins that assemble to form the spliceosome. I will present recent insights into the large-scale conformational changes that occur upon spliceosome assembly.

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