Molecular mechanisms of epigenetic regulation

Plant homeodomain (PHD) fingers, YEATS, Tudor and bromodomains are found in proteins involved in a wide array of fundamental biological processes, including transcription, replication, DNA damage repair, cell differentiation and survival. These domains comprise the largest families of epigenetic readers, capable of recognizing PTMs (posttranslational modifications) in histones. During her talk, Prof. Kutateladze will detail the binding mechanisms and biological functions of the readers that select for methylated, acetylated, and unmodified histone H3 tails. She will compare specificities and discuss the significance of crosstalk between PTMs and the consequence of combinatorial readout for the recruitment of these readers to chromatin.

About the speaker:
Tatiana Kutateladze, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Tatiana received her PhD degree in chemistry from the Moscow State University and obtained a postdoctoral training in biochemistry and structural biology in the US. Her research interests include epigenetics biology and structural characterization of chromatin-binding proteins implicated in cancer and other human diseases.