Gloria Ann Brar
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Genetics
Gametes, the egg and sperm cells or their yeast equivalents, must start life young and undamaged, even when the cell that makes them is old. They are formed through meiosis, a special type of cell division that produces gametes.
- Fields
Genetics
Biology
Biochemistry
- Topics
meiosis
gametogenesis
budding yeast
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Nov 2029
What they work on
- Map how protein complexes are broken down, rebuilt and reorganized as budding yeast form gametes, using proteomics to create an atlas of the parts that are reset during this natural rejuvenation.
- Determine how the proteasome, the cell's protein-shredding machine, is remodeled and how its activity changes over time during yeast gamete formation.
- Investigate how clumping of proteins such as superoxide dismutase 1 (Sod1), an antioxidant enzyme, is linked to protein oxidation and breakdown during gamete formation.
- Identify the breakdown pathways that drive proteome remodeling, and test whether they are needed for gamete rejuvenation and whether switching them on extends lifespan in aged cells.
- Find the features that mark long, poorly translated mRNA versions called LUTIs for destruction by nonsense-mediated decay, using machine learning and data on RNA structure inside cells, and test whether LUTI regulation is common in mammalian cells.
- Uncover the functions of newly found short proteins and proteins that start at non-AUG codons in meiotic yeast, using pooled screens and focused study of those that contain known protein domains.
More about the research
During this process, cells overhaul their gene activity and rebuild many of their parts. Using budding yeast, a simple single-celled fungus that can be grown in large, synchronized batches, two connected projects ask how cells control this transformation. One asks which genes are switched on and how. The other asks which proteins are destroyed and rebuilt so that the new gametes are "reset" to youth.
Why it matters
Meiosis often fails, with serious consequences for human fertility and health. Understanding how gamete-forming cells regulate their genes could explain these failures. Revealing which cellular components gametes must clear out and replace, and how they do it, could point to the parts of the cell that drive aging. This could suggest new strategies to prevent or counter age-related cell damage. The work could also show general rules of gene regulation that apply to cells beyond meiosis.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Luke Berchowitz
Columbia University, NY·Biochemistry
Determine the molecular mechanism by which multi-site phosphorylation rapidly reverses amyloid-like Rim4 into oligomers and monomers at the onset of meiosis II in budding yeast.
Fei Wang
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Biology
Determine how autophagy, the cell's self-digestion system, promotes gametogenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae across meiosis entry, DNA replication, meiosis exit and spore membrane formation, using yeast genetics, biochemistry and imaging.
Kathryn Oliver
Emory University, GA·Genetics
Determine how inhibiting specific ribosomal proteins, including RPL12 (uL11) and RPL8 (uL2), affects the biogenesis of CFTR premature termination codon variants such as W1282X and G542X.
The school
University of California-Berkeley: 46 labs on PI Pages, $1.1B a year on research, 825 research doctorates a year.
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