Role of the ubiquitin system in epigenetic regulation

泛蛋白是一种由76个氨基酸组成的小蛋白质，从酵母到人类都很保守。它可以通过一个称为泛素化的过程共价添加到数千种不同的蛋白质上，为细胞调节提供多样性和动力学。组蛋白是一组碱性核蛋白，其结合并组织线性DNA成称为核小体的结构单元，核小体进一步浓缩成染色质。组蛋白的泛素修饰直接参与许多重要的细胞功能，包括转录、DNA复制、修复和基因沉默，因此在细胞分裂、生长和分化的调节中起关键作用。这种组蛋白修饰的机制和参与这一过程的参与者的特征很差。我们的研究目标是了解泛素修饰组蛋白在细胞调控中的机制和重要性。

Ubiquitin, a 76 amino acid small protein, is well conserved from yeast to humans. It can be covalently added onto thousands of different proteins through a process known as ubiquitination to provide diversity and dynamics to cell regulation. Histones are a group of basic nuclear proteins that bind and organize the linear DNA into the structural units called nucleosomes, which are further condensed into chromatin. Ubiquitin modification of histones is directly involved in many vital cellular functions including transcription, DNA replication, repair and gene silencing and therefore plays a critical role in the regulation of cell division, growth and differentiation. The mechanism of this histone modification and the players involved in this process are poorly characterized. The goal of our research program is to understand the mechanism and the importance of ubiquitin modification of histones in cellular regulation.