Craig L Peterson
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, MA·Biochemistry
Inside the cell nucleus, DNA is wrapped around protein spools called histones, forming units called nucleosomes. Together, the DNA and its packaging make up chromatin.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Genetics
Biophysics
- Topics
chromatin remodeling
nucleosome
histone variant
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Define the step-by-step mechanism by which the SWR1C remodeler places the histone variant H2A.Z into nucleosomes, using ensemble and single-molecule fluorescence assays.
- Use mass spectrometry and cryo-electron microscopy to learn how SWR1C distinguishes between different nucleosome substrates.
- Determine how the INO80C remodeler blocks noncoding transcription and how transcription affects replication fork structure, using genomic methods in yeast and mammalian cells.
- Test whether INO80C works with forkhead transcription factors to organize DNA replication origins into a nuclear compartment.
- Identify the replication-linked protein assemblies that establish and remove transcriptional buffering of newly copied genes, using genomic and molecular genetic approaches.
More about the research
How tightly DNA is packed controls whether genes can be read, copied or repaired. Enzymes called ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers use chemical energy to slide, remove or swap these spools. They are needed for almost every process involving chromosomes, and when they go wrong they can contribute to diseases including cancer. This work asks how remodelers shape chromosome behavior during gene transcription, DNA replication and repair.
Why it matters
Mammalian versions of these remodelers are essential for development, stem cell identity and genome stability, and losing them can lead to tumor formation and other diseases. Explaining how these enzymes work at the molecular level adds basic understanding of gene control and DNA replication. That understanding could eventually inform research on cancers linked to faulty chromatin regulation.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jia Fei
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Biochemistry
Characterize how NDF loosens nucleosomes, the protein spools that package DNA, and helps RNA Polymerase II move through them, using ultra-high-resolution optical tweezers and cryo-electron microscopy.
Robert J Duronio
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Genetics
Determine what is required for the coordinated production of replication-dependent histone mRNAs, using biochemical and genetic approaches in Drosophila to test the role of the Histone Locus Body, the nuclear structure that assembles at clustered histone genes.
Michael Joseph Buck
University at Buffalo, NY·Genetics
Determine how transcription factors recognize binding sites wrapped on a nucleosome, the DNA spool unit, using the in vitro Pioneer-seq assay to compare sites at every nucleosome position and across sequence variants.
The school
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School: 29 labs on PI Pages, $350M a year on research, 55 research doctorates a year.
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