“RNA-based regulation of viruses”

Narry Kim, PhD
Professor, School of Biological Sciences
Seoul National University
Founding Director, RNA Research Center
Institute for Basic Science

ZOOM

REGISTRATION REQUIRED: https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_c9BFJM9dRGKn1WFF4L_wLg

FLYER IN PDF

Abstract: Viruses rely heavily on RNA binding proteins for their success as pathogens. In this presentation, I will first talk about RNA tail modification which impacts viral and cellular gene expression. We found that TENT4 enzymes extend poly(A) tail of mRNAs with ‘mixed tails’ to delay deadenylation and stabilize the RNAs. Hepatitis B virus and human cytomegalovirus hijack this mechanism to efficiently stabilize their own RNAs. In the later part of my presentation, I will discuss our recent work on SARS-CoV-2. To delineate the viral transcriptomic architecture and provide a high-resolution map of SARS-CoV-2, we performed deep sequencing of infected cells. Our data define the canonical transcripts and noncanonical transcripts encoding unknown ORFs. More recently, we have also performed proteomic analyses of the SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleoprotein complex. We identify many proteins that directly interact with viral RNAs and modulate viral growth. Functional investigation of the viral transcripts and host proteins discovered in this study will open new directions to the research efforts to elucidate the life cycle and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2.

Bio: Narry Kim is a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University and a founding director of RNA Research Center at Institute for Basic Science. She received her Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of Oxford where she studied lentiviruses and gene delivery. With keen interest in RNA biology, she joined the Gideon Dreyfuss lab at the University of Pennsylvania and researched the role of the exon junction complex in mRNA surveillance. Her current research group investigates how genes are regulated at the RNA level, with particular interests in microRNA, mRNA, and viral RNA. She is a recipient of the L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Award, Hoam Prize, and Asan Prize, and a member of KAS, NAS and EMBO.