Lecture will be held in English

Hosted by

Lumír Krejčí

About the lecture

On the Machines that Make and Repair our Chromosomes

At the core of cellular life lies a carefully orchestrated interplay of DNA replication, recombination, and sister-chromatid cohesion. These fundamental processes, while seemingly discrete, are inextricably linked, as they function not in isolation but in precise harmony to confer genome integrity to dividing cells. A set of non-essential replisome factors integrate these processes during replication, acting not just as an individually optimized machinery for the specific process of genome duplication, but conferring the glue necessary to establish a multi-tiered competency structure. This intertwining of processes creates the blue print of chromosomes that have at the basis a genome that was not shuffled by toxic recombination nor decorated by harmful mutations. Notably, both cohesion and error-free recombination rely on the formation of transient replication junctions between the sister chromatids. These replication junctions involve the cohesin complex and DNA four-way junctions resembling Holliday Junctions. What is the purpose of replication junctions, how do they relate to replication fork architecture, are there “programs” via specific protein interaction hubs leading to their formation? I will discuss these concepts based on the lab results using visualization of replication junctions in cell populations and single molecule electron microscopy experiments.

Registration for lunch with the speaker /for Ph.D. students/

The sponsored lunch usually takes place in the Campus River restaurant. Please meet the speaker and other students at 12:45 at the reception desk at the main entrance (building B22, see the map below).