Research Interests:
Gene expression regulation, mRNA localization to cellular organelles
Short Synopsis:
My research interests are on the molecular mechanisms that coordinate the regulated expression of genes. We are focusing on two central steps of gene expression: mRNA translation and mRNA localization. Studies in recent years revealed that these two steps are highly regulated, and many proteins are involved in regulation. We characterize the activity of these proteins and screen for new ones. The characterization step is done in collaboration with the LSE imaging facility and involves detection of mRNA and fluorescent proteins by the LSE microscopy unit. We also collaborate with the Bioinformatics unit in order to define protein structures, mRNA recognition motifs and mRNA-protein interfaces.
Yosefzon Y., Koh YY., Chritton J.J., Lande A., Leibovich L., Barziv L., Petzold C., Yakhini Z., Mandel-Gutfreund Y., Wickens M. and Arava Y. (2011) Divergent RNA binding specificity of yeast Puf2p. RNA 17(8):1479-88.
Eliyahu E.*, Lesnik C.* and Arava Y. The protein chaperone Ssa1 targets mRNAs to the mitochondria through interaction with the translated protein. (2012) FEBS letters 586(1):64-9
Shoshani S., Piran R., Arava Y. and Keinan E. (2012) A Molecular cryptosystem for images by DNA computing. Angewandte Chemie 51(12):2883-7
Lesnik C. and Arava Y. (2013) Isolation of mRNAs associated with yeast mitochondria to study mechanisms of localized translation. J. Vis Exp. in press