Research
Exploring ANGEL1/ANGEL2: Potential regulators of mRNA quality control and tRNA splicing pathways
Our research focuses on uncovering mechanisms of RNA quality control through studying two proteins with previously little known function. The first, Angel1, appears to play a role in regulating mRNA surveillance within ribosome-associated quality control pathways, particularly Non-Stop Decay and No-Go Decay. The second, Angel2, is a cyclic phosphatase that may function in the tRNA splicing pathway.
Figure A and B show exponential decay curves demonstrating that depletion of Angel1 affects the stability of both a Non-Stop Decay substrate (A) and a Nonsense-Mediated Decay substrate (B) compared to control siRNA.
Investigating Quality Control Pathways in 7SL-SRP biogenesis
Our lab is investigating how mutations in 7SL RNA and disease-associated SRP proteins disrupt the assembly of the signal recognition particle. We aim to uncover the quality control pathways responsible for detecting and degrading aberrant transcripts, providing insight into both fundamental SRP biology and the molecular basis of SRP-related disorders.
Understanding snRNA Variant and Mutant Quality Control
Defective snRNAs arising from abundant human pseudogenes or disease-associated mutations are eliminated through multiple quality control checkpoints during snRNA biogenesis. Our lab is actively uncovering the mechanisms that monitor these snRNAs and identifying the pathways that prevent their incorporation into the spliceosome.
Exploring Regulatory Elements Directing the Integrator Complex
We are exploring how the Integrator complex recognizes and cleaves nascent snRNAs, and why snRNA variants from pseudogenes with high sequence similarity fail to undergo proper 3′ end processing. By identifying key sequence features, we aim to decode what directs accurate snRNA biogenesis.
