Post-transcriptional control of gene expression
Post-transcriptional control of gene expression is a topical and expanding area of eukaryotic biology. In the last few years, the major discoveries of silencing phenomena, small regulatory RNAs such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and of other non-coding RNAs transcribed from intergenic regions in the genome in plants and animals has contributed greatly to the increased importance of post-transcriptional mechanisms. These also highlight how little we know and understand about the intricacy of gene expression.
Our interests are in alternative splicing - how it regulates expression, particularly under stress conditions, the protein factors involved and how these affect multiple splicing events. Given the role of nuclear architecture in gene expression and research which has found mRNAs in the plant nucleolus, we are also interested in functions of the nucleolus in mRNA biogenesis. The role of non-coding RNAs in regulating expression is a major challenge and we are studying small nucleolar RNAs and in particular those which might affect mRNA production. Read more on the following pages.
