Research interests

The goal of our work is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which the DNA methylation machinery - the DNA methyltransferases, DNMTs and the methyl-CpG-binding domain proteins (MBDs) - functions. In recent years, our research program has focused on the two following objectives:

1. How do the DNMTs and the MBDs lead to gene silencing?

We have reported that the DNMTs repress transcription through the recruitment of HDAC as well as H3K9-histone methyltransferase activities. Recently, we found that the Polycomb Group (PcG) protein EZH2 serves as a recruitment platform for DNA methyltransferases, at least in some situations, highlighting a previously unrecognized direct connection between two key epigenetic repression systems.

 

 

2. How are the DNMTs targeted to specific genomic regions?

Our recent works suggest that the specific targeting of DNMTs within the genome may, at least in part, occur through protein-protein interactions.