MellorLab

Controlled access to the information stored in our genome is mediated in part by our epigenome; the layer of information that influences events on the DNA without altering the DNA sequence. Epigenetic control of gene expression occurs in three main ways; by non-coding RNAs, by methylation of CG dinucleotides in DNA and through various reversible covalent modifications to histone proteins, including lysine and arginine methylation, serine phosphorylation, lysine ubiquitylation and acetylation. Defects in epigenetic control processes make a significant contribution to disease, particularly cancer, and a global effort is underway to decipher the epigenetic code and to understand how it influences gene silencing and gene expression.

Our group is interested in how modifications to histones, in combination with other parameters, function to control the various step in gene expression, from defining a promoter to termination of transcription. We are particularly interested in the dynamics of gene induction and repression and how these are influenced by higher order structures in chromatin. We use predictive pattern recognition algorithms and most standard wet techniques including chromatin immunoprecipitation to study these processes and their effect on gene expression using, as a model organism, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.