The University of Arizona

Carol L. Dieckmann

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics and Molecular & Cellular Biology
Ph.D., University of California, San Diego


Mitochondrial RNA stability; Chlamydomonas eyespot positioning and assembly.

Research Interests

The general focus in this lab is on understanding the coordination of organelle/host cell interactions. Two different systems under study are: 1) mitochondrial mRNA expression in yeast mitochondria, and 2) eyespot assembly in Chlamydomonas. 1) The CBP1 yeast nuclear gene encodes a protein that stabilizes and promotes translation of apocytochrome b mRNA. We are defining where and how Cbp1 protein interacts with the RNA and other mitochondrial proteins. We also study other aspects of mitochondrial RNA processing and stability. 2) The eyespot in Chlamydomonas is made up of components in the chloroplast and in the plasma membrane of the cell. We are interested in how the cell controls the assembly of these components into a functional light-sensing structure. We are studying four genes required for eyespot assembly. eye2 and eye3 mutants are eyeless, i.e. have no carotenoid pigment granules in the chloroplast. min1 mutants have small eyespots and mlt1 mutants have multiple eyespots. We have isolated, sequenced and characterized the EYE2 and MIN1 genes.

Select Publications

Any link on the below references will take you off of the BMCB site and to an abstract of that particular paper.

Ellis, T.P., M.S. Schonauer, and C.L. Dieckmann. 2005. CBT1 interacts genetically with CBP1 and the mitochondrially encoded cytochrome b gene and is required to stabilize the mature cytochrome b mRNA of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics 171: 949-957.

Krause, K., and C.L. Dieckmann. 2004. Analysis of transcription asymmetries along the tRNAE-COB operon: evidence for transcription attenuation and rapid RNA degradation between coding sequences. Nucleic Acids Research 32: 6276-6283.

Schonauer, M.S., and C.L. Dieckmann. 2004. Mitochondrial genomics and proteomics. Current Genomics 5: 575-588.

Tzagoloff, A., and C.L. Dieckmann. 2004. Nuclear genes in mitochondrial function and biogenesis. In: Encyclopedia of Biological Chemistry (Lennarz, W.J., and M.D. Lane, Eds.). Academic Press/Elsevier 3: 100-104.

Krause, K., R. Lopes de Souza, D.G. Roberts, and C.L. Dieckmann. 2004. The mitochondrial message-specific mRNA protectors Cbp1 and Pet309 are associated in a high-molecular weight complex. Molecular Biology of the Cell 15: 2674-2683.

Ellis, T.P., K.G. Helfenbein, A. Tzagoloff, and C.L. Dieckmann. 2004. Aep3p stabilizes the mitochondrial bicistronic mRNA encoding subunits 6 and 8 of the H+-translocating ATP synthase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Journal of Biological Chemistry 279: 15728-15733.

Islas-Osuna, M.A., T.P. Ellis, T.M. Mittelmeier, and C.L. Dieckmann. 2003. Suppressor mutations define two regions in the Cbp1 protein important for mitochondrial cytochrome b mRNA stability in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Current Genetics 43: 327-336.

Helfenbein, K.G., T.P. Ellis, C.L. Dieckmann, and A. Tzagoloff. 2003. ATP22, a nuclear gene required for expressin of the F0 sector of mitochondrial ATPase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Journal of Biological Chemistry 278: 19751-19756.

Dieckmann, C.L. 2003. Eyespot placement and assembly in the green alga Chlamydomonas. BioEssays 25: 410-416.

Islas-Osuna, M.A., T.P. Ellis, L.L. Marnell, T.M. Mittelmeier, and C.L. Dieckmann. 2002. Cbp1 Is Required for Translation of the Mitochondrial Cytochrome b mRNA of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Journal of Biological Chemistry 277: 37987-37990.

Roberts, D.W.G., M.R. Lamb, and C.L. Dieckmann. 2001. Characterization of the EYE2 gene required for eyespot assembly in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Genetics 158: 1037-1049.

Contact Information

    Mailing:
    Carol L. Dieckmann, Professor
    Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
    University of Arizona
    Life Sciences South 454
    P.O. Box 210106
    Tucson, AZ 85721-0106

    Web Site: Home Page

    Telephone:
    520-621-3569 (Office)
    520-621-1418 (Lab)

    Fax:
    520-
    621-3709

    Email:
    dieckman@email.arizona.edu

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