Investigating the Role of Bye1 in Transcription (2013)

Undergraduates: Gabriella Brown, Deepak Jha and Glenn Wozniak Dr. Brian Strahl and Lab

Faculty Advisor: Brian Strahl
Department: Biology

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The eukaryotic genome is organized in a relatively compact structure called chromatin. The cell is able to contend with this structure by remodeling the chromatin and therefore making the underlying DNA accessible. There are many processes that modulate chromatin structure, and in turn, affect cellular processes such as gene transcription, DNA repair, etc. Our lab is primarily interested in the role histone modifications play in regulating gene transcription, particularly transcription elongation. Here, we investigated the biological function, particularly in the context of transcription, of a poorly characterized gene, BYE1. We deleted the BYE1 gene from the budding yeast and subjected it to transcriptional stress (induced by 6-Azauracil, 6-AU). We observed that bye1Δ are resistant to 6-AU suggesting a negative role of BYE1 in transcription elongation. Additionally, we have performed in genome-scale genetic interaction analysis to show that BYE1 functionally interacts with genes involved in transcription elongation. We are, in the process of, determining if the known chromatin interacting domain of Bye1 are necessary and sufficient for its function in transcription elongation.