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Leppek Group

Group leader

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Kathrin Leppek



Phone (Office): +49 228 287-51158
Phone (Lab): +49 228 287-51172
Fax: +49 228 287-16094

North Zone, Building B12
Ground Floor, Room EG-412

CV

Regulation of gene expression, the decision which proteins to make from an identical genome, is essential to specify cell types and tissues. Our lab focuses on how such regulation is executed through the ribosome and mRNA interactions and what the decisive molecular players are, particularly in context of the innate immune response.

The ribosome, one of life’s most ancient molecular machines, has recently been revealed to be an active regulator of gene expression. Ribosomes are not all identical in composition and do not translate all mRNAs equally: “specialized” ribosomes preferentially translate certain transcripts to diversify gene expression. It is poorly understood how ribosome components, proteins and ribosomal RNA (rRNA), mediate such selectivity. The regulatory capacity of rRNA in translation, one of the oldest molecules on earth, has long remained unexplored.

Our lab studies a fundamentally new mode of gene regulation by which rRNA regions exposed on the outer shell of the ribosome called rRNA expansion segments directly bind to selective transcripts to control mRNA- and species-specific translation (Leppek et al., 2020; Leppek, Byeon et al., 2021) and how rRNA-mRNA recognition patterns thereby diversify the proteome. Ribosomes have thereby evolved the ability to discriminate which proteins are made in a cell through selective translation via rRNA. We combine innovative RNA biochemistry and RNA-based technology development with model systems ranging from yeast to macrophages. Through this, our lab aims to decipher how rRNA-directed specialized translation – how ribosomes recognize, bind and translate selective mRNAs – shapes gene expression to understand the role of rRNA expansion segments on ribosomes in innate immune responses where customized translation may underlie dynamic cellular specification.

Regulation of gene expression, the decision which proteins to make from an identical genome, is essential to specify cell types and tissues. Our lab focuses on how such regulation is executed through the ribosome and mRNA interactions and what the decisive molecular players are, particularly in context of the innate immune response.

The ribosome, one of life’s most ancient molecular machines, has recently been revealed to be an active regulator of gene expression. Ribosomes are not all identical in composition and do not translate all mRNAs equally: “specialized” ribosomes preferentially translate certain transcripts to diversify gene expression. It is poorly understood how ribosome components, proteins and ribosomal RNA (rRNA), mediate such selectivity. The regulatory capacity of rRNA in translation, one of the oldest molecules on earth, has long remained unexplored.

Our lab studies a fundamentally new mode of gene regulation by which rRNA regions exposed on the outer shell of the ribosome called rRNA expansion segments directly bind to selective transcripts to control mRNA- and species-specific translation (Leppek et al., 2020; Leppek, Byeon et al., 2021) and how rRNA-mRNA recognition patterns thereby diversify the proteome. Ribosomes have thereby evolved the ability to discriminate which proteins are made in a cell through selective translation via rRNA. We combine innovative RNA biochemistry and RNA-based technology development with model systems ranging from yeast to macrophages. Through this, our lab aims to decipher how rRNA-directed specialized translation – how ribosomes recognize, bind and translate selective mRNAs – shapes gene expression to understand the role of rRNA expansion segments on ribosomes in innate immune responses where customized translation may underlie dynamic cellular specification.

 

Group Members

Aishwarya Gopal, Doctoral candidate

Phone: +49 228 287-51172

Martin Haimann, Doctoral candidate

Phone: +49 228 287-51172

Philipp B. Koch, Doctoral candidate

Phone: +49 228 287-51172

Samyukta Narayanan, Doctoral candidate

Phone: +49 228 287-51172

 
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