DNA activity is tightly controlled, and its integrity is protected to control gene expression and cell fate, without altering the underlying genetic code. Such a level of regulation is achieved through the compaction of DNA into a complex three-dimensional structure in which genes are inactive, known as heterochromatin – the genomic ‘dark matter’ of a cell.
This epigenetic control is crucial for human development and health because it defines the identity and, therefore, the role of every cell in the body. Unsurprisingly, malfunction of these processes leads to cancer, developmental defects, aging, and susceptibility to infectious diseases.
This exciting project will focus on understanding the structural basis of how various multi-protein complexes regulate heterochromatin.
Students will use the insect cell expression system to produce these complexes, followed by in vitro reconstitution of their activities, and then utilise cryo-electron microscopy and mass spectrometry to elucidate the atomic details of them (similar work from the lab: Tan, Nature Communications 2025 16, 5606.