Eröffnung der Vortragsreihe „Molekulare Grundlagen des Lebens“ durch Prof. Dr. Franz Narberhaus (Ruhr-Uni Bochum) mit dem Schwerpunktthema „Molecular Interactions in Microbes”

Form equals function! This is not only true for proteins but also for regulatory RNA structures. Common regulatory RNA elements are RNA thermometers (RNATs) upstream of temperature-responsive genes in bacteria. They trap the ribosome binding site in a secondary structure. A temperature increase destabilizes this structure and permits translation initiation. In search for new RNATs in the foodborne pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, we established two global RNA structuromics approaches and identified numerous new virulence-associated RNATs. I will end by showing that eukaryotes and viruses also exploit RNAT-like structures for temperature regulation.

Franz Narberhaus studied biology in Göttingen and received his doctorate in 1992 under Gerhard Gottschalk and Hubert Bahl. After two years as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley with Sydney Kustu, he joined Hauke Hennecke at ETH Zurich in 1995, where he habilitated in 1999. Since 2004 he has been head of the Chair of Biology of Microorganisms at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. From 2007 to 2013, he and Jörg Vogel coordinated the DFG priority programme “Sensory and regulatory RNAs in Prokaryotes. ” From 2012 to 2020 he was a member of the DFG Panel on Microbiology, Virology and Immunology, and since 2016 he has been the speaker.

Begrüßung: Professorin Dr. Ulla Bonas
Moderation: Professorin Dr. Katharina Riedel