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| Reports on Overseas' Conferences and
Meetings |
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| Report on Abcam
conference “Maintenance of Genome Stability” |
| Keiji Suzuki, Department
of Molecular Medicine |
An international conference
on the maintenance of genome stability was
held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico between March
4 and 7, 2008. This meeting was organized
by Dr. Stephen Jackson from Cambridge University,
who is one of the most famous scientists
in the field of DNA damage and response,
together with Abcam, a leading company that
establishes and distributes antibodies against
updated proteins. There were over 150 participants
from all over the world, and the speakers
were chosen from the scientists who lead
the field. There were so many talks, which
were highly relevant to the Nagasaki Global
COE projects. Some topical talks were listed
below.
It is well known that site-specific phosphorylation
is the most important modification induced
in cells in response to ionizing radiation.
ATM-dependent phosphorylation plays a crucial
role in DNA damage checkpoint signaling, and
this time, some unexpected findings were reported.
The initial event occurred immediately after
irradiation is phosphorylation of histone
H2AX, a member of histone H2A, which consists
nucleosome core. Phosphorylated histone H2AX
is recognized by MDC1, which was originally
found as a mediator of DNA damaging signal.
During the meeting, several groups have reported
that MDC1 is constitutively phosphorylated
by casein kinase II. This phosphorylation
is essential for recruitment of NBS1, indicating
the mechanism, by which transduces damage
signal efficiently. Another novel finding
was ubiquitination of histone H2AX by RNF8.
RNF8 was originally discovered as a factor
that binds to phosphorylated MDC1. RNF8 together
with UBC13 ubiqutinate histone H2AX, and thereby,
modifies chromatin structure. It is postulated
that this chromatin structural alteration
is required for the subsequent amplification
of DNA damaging signal.
As expected, the conference was filled with
novel findings and ideas that surely promote
our current studies. They should contribute
to the better understandings of DNA damage
response in human cells, which take place
after exposure to ionizing radiation. These
results are also useful for development of
chemicals that sensitize cancer cells to radiation.
Furthermore, the accumulation of basic knowledge
regarding the molecular response of cells
to radiation must be taken into consideration
of the better estimation of radiation health
risks, which is the goal of Nagasaki Global
COE program. |
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