EIPOD 2009: Structure and function of animal ciliary proteins
Main Lab: Teresa Carlomagno
(Heidelberg)
Partner Labs: Darren Hart (Grenoble), Lars Hufnagel (Heidelberg), Toby
Gibson (Heidelberg)
A growing set of human developmental diseases is
being connected to malfunctions of cilia proteins (1). It is now
recognized that animal cell cilia (so long dismissed as the cellular
“appendix”) play vital roles in cell signaling and tissue development.
Proper assembly and function of these organelles strongly depend upon
IFT (intraflagellar transport), a bidirectional transfer of protein
complexes along the cilia. Both the anterograde and the retrograde
motors transport large irregular IFT particles that act as adaptors for
ciliary cargoes. At least three multiprotein complexes are involved in
IFT: the BBSome, ITF-A and IFT-B (2).
Most of the information available on the IFT
complexes comes from genetics and microscopy studies - whereas neither
structural nor biochemical studies are available for ciliary transport
proteins. Here we propose an interdisciplinary project with the aim of
beginning structural investigation of the ciliome, determining
intermolecular interactions in the IFT complexes and providing a
platform for further functional studies. This project will begin the
process of understanding ciliary protein structure and function with
the longer term goal to identify targets to treat ciliopathies.
The post-doctoral fellow will be exposed to a true
interdisciplinary environment comprising high-throughput molecular
biology approaches (Hart, 3), structural biology including both NMR and
crystallography (Carlomagno, 4), bioinformatic tools (Gibson) and
cellular assays (Hufnagel). He/she will learn to characterize
structure-function relationships from A to Z, starting with the
identification of interaction partners in the still unexplored ciliome,
proceeding to the determination of the structure of the complexes and
finally identifying their function in cell assays.
We invite applications from highly motivated candidates with a
background in molecular and/or structural biology.
1. Quinlan (2008) CTDB, 84,249
2. Blacque (2008) FBS, 13, 2633
3. Tarendeau (2007) NSMB 14, 229
4. Liu (2007) Science 316, 115
Closing date: October 31, 2009
Information for the application can be found at:
http://www.embl.de/training/postdocs/eipod/app2009/index.html
