Mechanisms and Applications of DNA Methylation and Gene Silencing in Plants - Steve Jacobsen

Prof. Steve Jacobsen, Professor of Molecular Cell & Development Biology, HHMI Investigator, University of California, Los Angeles
DNA methylation is associated with transcriptional repression of eukaryotic genes and transposons. Plants have evolved elaborate systems for the establishment and maintenance of DNA methylation, involving a number of self-reinforcing loop systems that allow for the heritability of DNA methylation difference through mitosis and meiosis. The Jacobsen lab is studying the components and mechanisms by which DNA methylation is read and interpreted, and how it causes gene silencing or in some cases gene activation. We are developing CRISPR-based tools for the precise targeting of DNA methylation changes which can be used in basic plant research or in crop improvement projects.
The Monthly Seminar on Physical Genomics is a public lecture series sponsored by the Center for Physical Genomics at Northwestern University, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, and NIH Grants T32GM142604 and U54CA268084.
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