Dr. Eugene V. Shakirov
Hometown:
Zelenodolsk, Tatarstan, Russia
Undergraduate Degree:
Kazan State University, Russia
Additional Degrees:
Ph.D in Microbiology, Kazan State University, Russia
Ph.D in Biochemistry, Texas A&M University
Postdoctoral Experience:
Texas A&M University, College Station
Research Synopsis:
A major focus in the Shippen lab is understanding how POT1 proteins (protection of telomeres) perform their many vital functions at the chromosome end. The model plant system, Arabidopsis thaliana, is unusual as unlike most known eukaryotes its genome encodes two full-length POT1 proteins, dubbed POT1a and POT1b. Both proteins contribute to telomere biology. I am very interested in understanding the apparent separation of function between the two Arabidopsis POT1 proteins and in the events that led to POT1a/b gene duplication.
To look at the evolutionary history of plant POT1 genes, I obtained coding sequences for over 30 POT1 proteins from a variety of organisms throughout plant lineage, from green algae, mosses and pines to many representatives of modern flowering plants. In collaboration with evolutionary and structural biologists, we found that Arabidopsis POT1b and especially POT1a have experienced an extraordinary fast mutation rate, with many structurally interesting sites under apparent positive selection. To address the importance of such sites we developed a powerful AtPOT1a genetic complementation assay. This and other biochemical assays allowed us to identify several regions and individual amino acids essential for AtPOT1a function in vivo.
I am also very interested in comparative studies aimed at understanding how telomere length is regulated in different plant species and what genes may be involved in such regulation. Currently, I am working with the genome of the fruit tree Carica papaya (the most closely related organism to Arabidopsis thaliana whose genome has just been sequenced) to understand how telomere binding proteins in these two species evolved to regulate telomere length in different tissues.