Our lab studies the cellular architecture and regulation of protein synthesis, with a primary focus on understanding how cells regulate both the subcellular location and temporal dynamics of protein synthesis. Here, we focus on mRNA localization. mRNA localization is a primary mechanism used by all eukaryotic cells to regulate the spatiotemporal component of gene expression - where and when an mRNA is translated to yield its encoded protein. Such regulation is critical for proper control of cell dynamics, cell signaling and cell division. Of the many mRNA localization phenomena that have been identified to date, the most prominent is mRNA localization to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). mRNA localization to the ER is distinguished by its magnitude (ca. 30-40% of the mRNA transcriptome is localized to the ER) and temporal demands - all newly exported mRNAs undergo selection for translation in the cytosol and/or ER compartments.
In studying this question, we use a broad array of tools drawn from biochemistry, cell biology, genomics, and computational biology, and are focusing on several related themes that define this central question. Primarily, we are working to establish the rules that govern the association of mRNAs with the ER. One mechanism, in which a signal in the encoded protein leads to recruitment to the ER, has been described. The identification and characterization of additional pathways leading to ER enrichment remains a central and largely unanswered question. We are also investigating how mRNAs might directly bind to the ER independently of their association with ribosomes. In a recent paper from our lab, we have demonstrated that the mRNAs that encode the resident proteins of the endomembrane system (nuclear envelope, ER, Golgi, lysosomes, peroxisomes and plasma membrane) are localized to discrete domains of the ER and undergo direct binding interactions with components of the ER membrane components. We are keenly interested in understanding what signals and signal binding protein(s) direct this critical subset of mRNAs to this discrete subcellular location in the cell and how such localization contributes to the biogenesis of cell structure and regulation of cell function.
