We seek to understand how genes are regulated at the post-transcriptional level during vertebrate development and in human disease, and to uncover the mechanisms underlying the translation and stability of messenger RNA.
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Publications
Research Summary
Molecular and Cell Biology, Development and Regeneration, Genetics and Genomics
Zebrafish, Human cell lines
The Bazzini Lab investigates how gene regulation impacts development, physiology, and disease. The lab’s primary focus is to determine the regulatory factors governing mRNA stability and its translation into protein. Traditionally, transcription - the production of mRNA gene messages from DNA - has been thought to be the major determinant of mRNA quantity and quality; however, mRNA stability may be equally important.
The assumption that mRNAs in higher organisms contain a single protein-coding region, or open reading frame (ORF), has undergone a dramatic revision in recent years. The lab has identified thousands of small translated ORFs within previously assigned untranslated regions (UTRs), and long non-coding RNAs. Analyzing ribosomal profiling data from human cell lines and zebrafish embryos has enabled the discovery of small translated ORFs in the 3’UTRs, referred to as downstream ORFs (dORFs).
Principal Investigator
Associate Investigator
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Ariel Bazzini joined the Stowers Institute in 2016. His research focuses on gene regulation in development and disease and in unraveling the intricacies in RNA stability and translation.
Codon optimality can determine mRNA stability and transcription. Codons, the three-nucleotide ‘words’ of mRNA read by protein-producing ribosomes, have a strong effect on the stability of maternal mRNA supplied to the embryo, and thus contain information that extends far beyond the protein sequences they encode. This represents a paradigm shift in how mRNA stability is viewed.
News
20 March 2024
New research examines the critical transition in development common to all animals—when a zygote switches from using maternally-supplied RNA to the point in time it can transcribe its own RNA.
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News
20 March 2024
New research examines the critical transition in development common to all animals—when a zygote switches from using maternally-supplied RNA to the point in time it can transcribe its own RNA.
Read Article
News
14 June 2022
Pallarés, a PhD student, will arrive at the Stowers Institute in July after being named a 2022 PROLAB winner.
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iCodon customizes gene expression based on the codon composition
Diez M, Medina-Munoz SG, Castellano LA, da Silva Pescador G, Wu Q, Bazzini AA. Sci Rep. 2022;12:12126 doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-15526-7.
Optimized CRISPR-RfxCas13d system for RNA targeting in zebrafish embryos
Hernandez-Huertas L, Kushawah G, Diaz-Moscoso A, Tomas-Gallardo L, Moreno-Sanchez I, da Silva Prescador G, Bazzini AA, Moreno-Mateos MA. STAR-Protocol. 2022;3:101058. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2021.101058..
Crosstalk between codon optimality and cis-regulatory elements dictates mRNA stability
Medina-Munoz SG, Kushawah G, Castellano LA, Diez M, DeVore ML, Salazar MJB, Bazzini AA. [published ahead of print January 7 2021]. Genome Biol. 2021;22:14. doi: 10.1186/s13059-020-02251-5.
Translation of small downstream ORFs enhances translation of canonical main open reading frames
Wu Q, Wright M, Gogol MM, Bradford WD, Zhang N, Bazzini AA. EMBO J. 2020;39:e104763. doi: 104710../embj.2020104763.
CRISPR-Cas13d Induces Efficient mRNA Knockdown in Animal Embryos
Kushawah G, Hernandez-Huertas L, Abugattas-Nunez Del Prado J, Martinez-Morales JR, DeVore ML, Hassan H, Moreno-Sanchez I, Tomas-Gallardo L, Diaz-Moscoso A, Monges DE, Guelfo JR, Theune WC, Brannan EO, Wang W, Corbin TJ, Moran AM, Sanchez Alvarado A, Malaga-Trillo E, Takacs CM, Bazzini AA, Moreno-Mateos MA. Dev Cell. 2020;54:805-817 e807.
