Methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) was discovered as a protein binding to methylated DNA more than 20 years ago. It is very abundant in the brain and was shown to be able to repress transcription. The mutations in MeCP2 cause Rett syndrome, an autism-spectrum neurological disorder affecting girls. Yet, the exact role of MeCP2 in Rett disease, its function and mechanism of action are not fully elucidated. In order to shed some light on its role in the disease the aim of this project was to identify proteins interacting with MeCP2. Affinity purification of MeCP2 from mouse brains and mass spectrometry analysis revealed new interactions between MeCP2 and protein complexes. Detailed analysis confirmed the findings and narrowed down the top interactions to distinct regions of MeCP2. One of the domains interacts with identified NCoR/SMRT co-repressor complex and is mutated in many patients with Rett syndrome. In vitro assays proved that these mutations abolish the putative transcriptional repressor function of MeCP2. We propose a model in which Rett syndrome is caused by two types of mutations: either disrupting the interaction with DNA or affecting the interaction with the identified complex, which has an effect on the global state of chromatin. The presented findings can help to develop new therapies for Rett syndrome in the future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:633926 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Ekiert, Robert |
| Contributors | Bird, Adrian; Sawin, Ken |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/9901 |
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