Genome-wide translational responses to stress

We are interested in gene regulation in responses to stress, using both simple model organisms, human and plant pathogens.

Cells respond to stress conditions by launching complex programs of gene expression, both transcriptional and posttranscriptional, and which are often closely linked with each other. We are particularly interested in the regulation of translation, which is modified in response to stress at multiple levels.

We use the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe to study these questions, and address them with state-of-the-art genomic methods, classical and molecular genetics, and cell biological approaches.

We have recently demonstrated that certain types of stress cause ribosomes to stall on specific codons (tryptophan), leading to ribosome ’traffic-jams’ on mRNAs. These results suggest the existence of a regulatory programme at the level of translational elongation. A PhD project would involve the study of this phenomenon using a combination of single-gene approaches and genome-wide methods (such as RNA-seq, tRNA-seq and ribosome profiling).