Assistant Professor Barbara Mellone
Education: PhD, Medical Research Council (MRC), Edinburgh, Scotland; Postdoc: Lawrence Berkeley Lab/UC Berkeley
Research Interests: Normal inheritance of genetic material requires that chromosomes segregate faithfully during mitosis and meiosis. The kinetochore is a unique structure that attaches chromosomes to the microtubule spindle, monitors proper chromosome attachment to the spindle, and couples spindle and motor protein forces to move chromosomes during prometaphase and anaphase. The centromere is a specialized chromosomal site that is the structural and functional foundation for kinetochore formation, and is characterized by a unique type of chromatin that needs to be reconstituted after each replication cycle. My lab is interested in understanding how the centromere location is determined and how the centromere site is inherited through cell division. By using different molecular and imaging techniques we are dissecting pathways responsible for cell-cycle regulation, localization, and functional inter-dependence of centromere components using the fruitfly as model organism.
Selected Publications:
Williamson A*, Wickliffe KE*, Mellone BG, Song L, Karpen GH, Rape M. Identification of a physiological E2 module for the human anaphase-promoting complex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Oct 12.
Mellone B.G*., Zhang W*., Karpen G.H. Frodos found: Behold the CENP-A “Ring” bearers. Cell. 173. 2009.
Mellone B.G. Spatial and temporal regulation of centromeric chromatin. Biochemistry and Cell Biology. 2009 Feb;87(1):255-64.
Erhardt S.*, Mellone B.G.*, Betts C.M.*, Karpen G.H., Straight A.F. Identification of novel regulators of centromeric chromatin by genome-wide RNAi screening. J Cell Biol. 2008 Dec 1;183(5):805-18.
Castillo A.G.*, Mellone B.G.*, Partridge J.F., Richardson W., Hamilton G.L., Allshire R.C., Pidoux A.L. Plasticity of Fission Yeast CENP-A Chromatin Driven by Relative Levels of Histone H3 and H4. PLoS Genet. 2007 Jul 27;3(7):e121.
Zhang W., Mellone B.G., Karpen G.H. A specialized nucleosome has a ‘point’ to make. Cell. 2007 Jun 15;129(6):1047-9.
Mellone B., Erhardt S., Karpen G.H. The ABCs of centromeres. Nature Cell Biology. 2006 May;8(5):427-9.
Pidoux A., Mellone B., Allshire R.C. Analysis of chromatin in Fission Yeast. Methods. 2004 Jul;33(3):252-9.
Mellone B.G., Ball L., Suka N., Grunstein M.R., Partridge J.F., Allshire R.C. Centromere function in fission yeast is governed by the amino terminus of histone H3. Current Biology, Oct 14, 2003; 13(20): 1748-1757.
Mellone B.G. and Allshire R.C. Stretching it: Putting the CEN(P-A) in centromere. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development. Vol 13 No 2 April 2003.
Kniola B., O'Toole E., McIntosh J.R., Mellone B., Allshire R., Mengarelli S., Hultenby K., Ekwall K. The domain structure of centromeres in conserved from fission yeast to humans. Molecular Biology of the Cell. Sept 1, 2001; 12 (9).
* equal contribution
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