Journal of Proteomics & Bioinformatics
Open Access
ISSN: 0974-276X
+44 1223 790975
ISSN: 0974-276X
+44 1223 790975
Benoit Coulombe
Accepted Abstracts: J Proteomics Bioinform
Using systematic protein affinity purification coupled with mass spectrometry (AP-MS), we have mapped the protein interaction network for RNA polymerase II, the multisubunit enzyme that decodes eukaryotic genomes by synthesizing mRNAs, in the soluble fraction of human cell extracts. The resulting high-confidence protein interaction network revealed a novel cellular machinery involved in the biogenesis of RNA polymerase II.1-3 Most interestingly, we defined the functions of a group of previously uncharacterized proteins, which we named the RNA polymerase II-associated proteins (RPAPs), in nuclear import and assembly of this essential enzyme. Our experiments have begun to unravel a complex molecular mechanism by which the assembly of RNA polymerase II is coupled with the import of its subunits to the nucleus through the concerted action of the RPAPs. This dynamic regulatory network is coordinated with other key cellular processes, and its misregulation is involved in the pathophysiology of a number of diseases.
Benoit Coulombe is director of the Gene Transcription and Proteomics Laboratory and the Proteomics Discovery Platform at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montr�al (IRCM) and Full Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Montr�al. He was an undergraduate in Biochemistry and obtained his Ph. D. in Molecular Biology at the University of Montr�al. He undertook postdoctoral work at the University of Toronto under Jack Greenblatt and at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) under Albert Goldbeter (School of Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry). He moved to the University of Sherbrooke in 1993, where he was Assistant Professor and attained the tenured rank of Full Professor, and to the IRCM in Montr�al in 2001. Over the past 15 years he has explored the mechanisms by which regulated protein-protein, protein-DNA, and protein- RNA interactions control the activity of RNA polymerase II during the transcription reaction. In 2009, Dr. Coulombe founded the Multisite, Integrated National Technology Platform for Mapping Protein Interaction Networks in Health and Disease, a Canada-wide infrastructure which has received substantial funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. One of Dr. Coulombe?s main interests currently is to crack the ?disease protein interactome?, more precisely, to map the interaction network of proteins known or predicted to participate in the establishment or the progression of various diseases. These maps represent an essential component of the multidisciplinary Proteomics Predictors for Personalized Medicine and Diagnostics (P3MD) platform for the discovery of biomarkers to be used as diagnostic tools and personalized indicators for targeted and stratified drug treatments of disease phenotypes.