Guilherme Martins Santos
University of Brasilia, Brasilia
Title: Featuring the nucleosome surface as a therapeutic target
Biography
Biography: Guilherme Martins Santos
Abstract
Chromatin is the major regulator of gene expression and genome maintenance. Proteins that bind the nucleosome, the repetitive unit of chromatin, and the Histone H4 tail are critical to establish chromatin architecture and phenotypic outcomes. Intriguingly, nucleosome-binding proteins (NBPs) and H4 tail peptide compete for the same binding site at an acidic region on the nucleosome surface. Although the essential facts about the nucleosome were already revealed 17 years ago, new insights into its atomic structure and molecular mechanisms are still emerging. In this talk, I will feature the nucleosome surface as a drug target to control chromatindynamics and, consequently, gene expression and genome maintenance. I will cover the key aspects of chromatin architecture upon binding of protein and exogenous molecules (exogenous Nucleosome Binding Molecules - eNBMs) to the nucleosome. Moreover, I will discuss the impact and development of eNBMs, presenting some of our results in silico, in vitro and in cell-based assays