Center for Molecular Biophysics & Biophysical Chemistry

Marc R. Gartenberg
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, UMDNJ
(732) 235-5800
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Tower, Room 529

Chromatin Structure and Function - DNA in chromosomes is thought to be arranged into loops with specific DNA fragments anchoring the bases of loops to an organizational framework. Gene clusters within individual loops may be regulated coordinately by modulation of loop nucleo-protein structure or DNA topology. My group is using molecular biological techniques to identify and characterize the DNA sequences that anchor the bases of DNA loops in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The role of chromosomal proteins in the attachment of DNA loops is being determined.

Specific chromosomal domains in yeast are inactivated to prevent gene expression during normal cell growth. Localized repression of transcription has been attributed to the formation of an alternative chromatin conformation. My group is developing strategies to probe the protein composition and protein-DNA interactions within silent chromatin in vivo. These techniques will be used to examine the mechanisms of inheritance of dormant and transcriptionally-poised chromosomal domains.

Intracellular Processing of Covalently-linked Protein-DNA Lesions - DNA topoisomerase inhibitors represent a major class of anti-cancer agents. Many of the compounds act by interrupting the normal enzymatic reaction, resulting in DNA breaks with the topoisomerases covalently attached to the break site. Cellular processing of protein-linked DNA lesions is likely to mitigate the efficacy of these topoisomerase poisons. We have developed a novel system to model topoisomerase I-linked DNA damage in S. cerevisiae utilizing mutants of the FLP site-specific recombinase. We are employing molecular biological techniques to study the DNA processing events that follow site-specific DNA damage. Genetic techniques will also be employed to identify novel cellular enzymes involved in repairing these lesions.