北京大学定量生物学中心

学术报告

题目: Design principles of transcription factors with intrinsically disordered regions

报告人: 吉文成 博士

魏茨曼科学研究所

时间: 8月11日（周一）14:00-15:00

地点: 吕志和楼B101

主持人: 林杰 研究员

摘要:

Transcription Factors (TFs) are proteins crucial for regulating gene expression. Effective regulation requires the TFs to rapidly bind to their correct target, enabling the cell to respond efficiently to stimuli such as nutrient availability or the presence of toxins. However, the search process is hindered by slow diffusive movement and the presence of ‘false’ targets - DNA segments that are similar to the true target. In eukaryotic cells, most TFs contain an Intrinsically Disordered Region (IDR), which is a long, flexible polymeric tail composed of hundreds of amino acids. Recent experimental findings indicate that the IDR of certain TFs plays a pivotal role in the search process. However, the principles underlying the IDR’s role remain unclear.

Here, we reveal key design principles of the IDR related to TF binding affinity and search time. Our results demonstrate that the IDR significantly enhances both of these aspects. Furthermore, our model shows good agreement with experimental results, and we propose further experiments to validate the model’s predictions.

报告人简介：

吉文成博士，2013年和2016年在北京大学物理学院分别获得学士学位和硕士学位，2021年在瑞士洛桑联邦理工学院(école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL)物理学院获得博士学位，现为魏茨曼科学研究所复杂系统物理博士后。吉博士致力于研究生物系统、玻璃态材料以及人工神经网络等复杂系统的动力学机制，尤其专注于从能量景观的视角深入探索并揭示这些系统的内在规律。