Research groups

Research

The bacterial Mfd protein prioritises active genes for repair by recruiting repair enzymes to transcription complexes that encounter DNA damage.

Transcription and DNA repair.

Genomes are replicated, repaired, modified and transcribed by a diverse range of protein:protein and protein:nucleic acid complexes.

Research in my laboratory aims to understand the mechanisms by which such complexes cooperate to control the frequency and accuracy with which individual genes are expressed.

We are studying transcription-coupled DNA repair processes and the effect of DNA damage on transcription, using a combination of biochemical and genetic techniques. In collaboration with colleagues from Engineering Maths and Biological Sciences we are also developing synthetic gene regulatory networks that perform designed functions.

Group

Nia Haines, Sarah Miles, Petros Mina, Fiona Preece, Oli Purcell and Abigail Smith.

Recent publications

Manelyte, L., Kim, Y.-I.T., Smith, A.J., Smith, R.M., and Savery, N.J. (2010). Regulation and Rate Enhancement during Transcription-Coupled DNA Repair. Molecular Cell 40, 714-724.

Manelyte, L., Guy, C.P., Smith, R.M., Dillingham, M.S., McGlynn, P., and Savery, N.J. (2009). The unstructured C-terminal extension of UvrD interacts with UvrB, but is dispensable for nucleotide excision repair. DNA Repair 8, 1300-1310.

Smith, A.J., Szczelkun, M.D., and Savery, N.J. (2007). Controlling the motor activity of a transcription-repair coupling factor: autoinhibition and the role of RNA polymerase. Nucleic Acids Res 35, 1802-1811.

Deaconescu, A.M., Chambers, A.L., Smith, A.J., Nickels, B.E., Hochschild, A., Savery, N.J. and Darst S.A. (2006) Structural basis for bacterial transcription-coupled DNA repair. Cell, 124, 507-520.