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Department of Biochemistry

 
Juan Mata

Genome-wide responses to stress.

 

Cells respond to stress conditions by launching complex gene expression programmes, both at the transcriptional and the post-transcriptional levels. The Mata Group is using the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, to investigate how cells remodel gene expression in response to stress, and to understand how these transcriptional and translational changes are coordinated. We concentrate on understanding how translation is remodelled during stress processes. We use methods such as ribosome profiling, which provides a high-resolution and genome-wide view of translation in normal cells and upon exposure to stress conditions. We are also very interested in how RNA-binding proteins regulate translation and how RNA stability varies during these processes. We have also started addressing these questions in other organisms, such as the plant pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici.

 

Research objectives

  • Determine the role of RNA-binding proteins in the control of RNA decay.

  • Understand the genome-wide control of translation.

  • Elucidate the fission yeast peptidome.

 

Key publications

Duncan CDS, Mata J (2022). Translation-complex profiling of fission yeast cells reveals dynamic rearrangements of scanning ribosomal subunits upon nutritional stress. Nucleic acids Research, 50(22):13011–13025. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkac1140

Rubio A, Ghosh S, Mülleder  M, Ralser M, Mata J (2021). Ribosome profiling reveals ribosome stalling on tryptophan codons and ribosome queuing upon oxidative stress in fission yeast. Nucleic Acids Research, 49(1): 383–399. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaa1180

Duncan CDS, Rodríguez-López M, Ruis P, Bähler J, Mata J (2018). General amino acid control in fission yeast is regulated by a nonconserved transcription factor, with functions analogous to Gcn4/Atf4. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 115(8):1829-1838. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1713991115

Hasan A, Cotobal C, Duncan CD, Mata J (2014). Systematic analysis of the role of RNA-binding proteins in the regulation of RNA stability. PLoS Genet., 10(11):e1004684. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004684

Duncan CD, Mata J (2014). The translational landscape of fission-yeast meiosis and sporulation. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol., 21(7):641-647. doi: 10.1038/nsmb.2843

Duncan CD, Mata J (2011). Widespread cotranslational formation of protein complexes. PLoS Genet., 7(12):e1002398. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002398

Amorim MJ, Cotobal C, Duncan C, Mata J (2010). Global coordination of transcriptional control and mRNA decay during cellular differentiation. Mol. Syst. Biol., 6:380. doi: 10.1038/msb.2010.38

Contact details

Research Group Leader  Juan Mata

Email  jm593@cam.ac.uk

Location  Hopkins Building

Opportunities

The Mata Group is accepting enquiries from prospective interns, undergraduate students, postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers.