Dr. Gillette’s research at UT Southwestern is aimed at determining how organisms protect themselves from damage to their DNA from chemical and environmental factors such as UV light. The main cellular process responsible for protection from this type of DNA damage is the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. NER removes lesions on DNA caused from exposure to environmental mutagens and carcinogens such as ultraviolet light. This pathway requires the coordinated activity of over 30 proteins, the majority of which are highly conserved from yeast to man. Defective NER has been documented as the primary cellular phenotype in the hereditary cancer-prone disease xeroderma pigmentosum.
Dr. Gillette’s investigations have focused on the regulation of NER by the ubiquitin proteasome pathway. The ubiquitin proteasome pathway influences a number of different biological processes, primarily through the targeted degradation of cellular proteins. Dr. Gillette’s findings were the first to uncover a non-proteolytic role for the ubiquitin proteasome pathway in NER in cells. This novel discovery has led to the uncovering of new mechanisms that control nucleotide excision repair and may eventually provide critical insight for developing new cancer drugs and treatments.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Nucleotide Excision Repair
Ubiquitin Proteasome Pathway
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Gillette TG, Huang W, Russell SJ, Reed SH, Johnston SA, and Friedberg EC, "The 19S complex of the proteasome regulates nucleotide excision repair in yeast." Genes Dev, 15(12):1528-39, June 2001
Gillette TG, Gonzalez F, Delahodde A, Johnston SA, and Kodadek T, "Physical and functional association of RNA polymerase II and the proteasome." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 101(16):5904-9, April 2004
Burdine L, Gillette TG, Lin HJ, and Kodadek T, "Periodate-triggered cross-linking of DOPA-containing peptide-protein complexes." J Am Chem Soc, 126(37):11442-3, September 2004
Ferdous A, Sikder D, Gillette TG, Nalley K, Kodadek T, and Johnston SA, "The 19S complex of the 26S proteasome destabilizes activator-DNA interactions independent of proteolysis." Submitted 2005
Gillette TG, Yu S, Zhou Z, Waters R, Johnston SA, Reed SH, "Distinct functions of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway influence nucleotide excision repair." EMBO J, 25(11):2529-38, June 2006
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