Christine Mayr

The Mayr Lab discovered that at least 20% of cytoplasmic mRNAs are organized into membraneless organelles, called TIS granules and the FXR1 network. Within these ‘cytoplasmic condensate networks’, mRNAs seem to be better accessible and have different shapes than mRNAs located outside of these compartments. We further found that protein synthesis within these special mRNA environments changes the functions of transcription factors and the activity of enzymes. This means that unique mRNA contexts present during protein synthesis control protein function.  

Figure 1

In the past, we investigated how the location of protein synthesis in the cytoplasm is controlled. We found that mRNA architecture features such as mRNA and exon length together with 3′UTR-bound RNA-binding proteins are major regulators of the location of protein synthesis. We further found that the location of protein synthesis in the cytoplasm is important as it regulates how much of a transcription factor is produced and with whom the transcription factor interacts.  

As transcription factors are the master regulators of development, we currently investigate how the location of protein synthesis changes transcription factor function during embryonic stem cell differentiation. We also study how the mRNA environment at the site of protein synthesis controls protein function through the regulation of protein conformation and complex assembly. Moreover, we examine the assembly rules of TIS granules and the FXR1 network to better understand how mRNAs are organized in the cytoplasm.