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Developing new models of mitochondrial diseases using CRISPR/Cas technologiesAleksandra Filipovska BSc PhD Louis Landau Chair in Child Health Research; NHMRC Leadership Fellow; Deputy Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for
Research
Systems biology of mitochondrial diseasesInvestigators: Professor Aleksandra Filipovska, Dr Stefan Siira Project description This project will focus on new and cutting-edge development of
Mitochondrial diseases are devastating disorders for which there are no cures or effective treatments. Our project will focus on the prevention of mitochondrial diseases and discovery of effective cures.
Research
Temporal landscape of mitochondrial proteostasis governed by the UPRmtBreakdown of mitochondrial proteostasis activates quality control pathways including the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) and PINK1/Parkin mitophagy. However, beyond the up-regulation of chaperones and proteases, we have a limited understanding of how the UPRmt remodels and restores damaged mitochondrial proteomes.
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Gene editing and cardiac disease modelling for the interpretation of genetic variants of uncertain significance in congenital heart diseaseGenomic sequencing in congenital heart disease (CHD) patients often discovers novel genetic variants, which are classified as variants of uncertain significance (VUS). Functional analysis of each VUS is required in specialised laboratories, to determine whether the VUS is disease causative or not, leading to lengthy diagnostic delays.
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Quantitative subcellular reconstruction reveals a lipid mediated inter-organelle biogenesis networkThe structures and functions of organelles in cells depend on each other but have not been systematically explored. We established stable knockout cell lines of peroxisomal, Golgi and endoplasmic reticulum genes identified in a whole-genome CRISPR knockout screen for inducers of mitochondrial biogenesis stress, showing that defects in peroxisome, Golgi and endoplasmic reticulum metabolism disrupt mitochondrial structure and function.
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ATFS-1 counteracts mitochondrial DNA damage by promoting repair over transcriptionThe ability to balance conflicting functional demands is critical for ensuring organismal survival. The transcription and repair of the mitochondrial genome requires separate enzymatic activities that can sterically compete, suggesting a life-long trade-off between these two processes.
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Digital RNase Footprinting of RNA-Protein Complexes and Ribosomes in MitochondriaRNA-binding proteins and mitochondrial ribosomes have been found to be linchpins of mitochondrial gene expression in health and disease. The expanding repertoire of proteins that bind and regulate the mitochondrial transcriptome has necessitated the development of new tools and methods to examine their molecular functions.
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Hyperactive Nickase Activity Improves Adenine Base EditingBase editing technologies enable programmable single-nucleotide changes in target DNA without double-stranded DNA breaks. Adenine base editors (ABEs) allow precise conversion of adenine to guanine. However, limited availability of optimized deaminases as well as their variable efficiencies across different target sequences can limit the ability of ABEs to achieve effective adenine editing.
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The mitochondrial single-stranded DNA binding protein is essential for initiation of mtDNA replicationWe report a role for the mitochondrial single-stranded DNA binding protein (mtSSB) in regulating mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication initiation in mammalian mitochondria. Transcription from the light-strand promoter (LSP) is required both for gene expression and for generating the RNA primers needed for initiation of mtDNA synthesis.