Structural and biochemical studies of the mechanism of LINE-1 retrotransposition and hepadnaviral replication

Project number:

POIR.04.04.00-00-20E7/16

Title:

Structural and biochemical studies of the mechanism of LINE-1 retrotransposition and hepadnaviral replication

Project leader:

Marcin Nowotny, PhD, DSc Habil
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Co-PI – Elżbieta Nowak, PhD
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Team members:

Małgorzata Figiel (post-doc)
Zuzanna Kaczmarska (post-doc)
Filip Gołębiowski (post-doc)
Sebastian Chamera (PhD student)
Marta Gapińska (PhD student)
Katarzyna Haza (researcher)

Duration:

01.06.2017–28.08.2022

About the project:             

The canonical flow of information in life is from DNA to RNA and from RNA to protein. There is, however, a fascinating example of a reversal of this flow – the conversion of single stranded RNA to double-stranded DNA, a process termed reverse transcription. It is used by certain viruses (i. e. HIV-1) to integrate their genetic material into the genome of the host cell and for subsequent replication. In addition to viruses, this process is used by mobile genetic elements called retrotransposons. They constitute nearly 40% of human genome and have a profound impact on its architecture. We are interested in determining the structure and mechanism of reverse transcriptase from non-LTR retrotransposon as well as the HBV reverse transcriptase, which is a very important but structurally unexplored target for anti-HB therapy.

Project received additional funds for COVID-19 related tasks.