Prof. Dr. Sabrina Büttner

Cellular aging and organelle communication

Confocal images of organelles, contact sites and protein aggregates in yeast cells. Fluorescently-labelled marker proteins were used to visualize the mitochondrial network (A), the endoplasmic reticulum (B), the contact site between the vacuole (blue) and lipid droplets (magenta) termed vCLIP (green) (C) as well as protein aggregates (green) in mitochondria (magenta) (D).
© Sabrina Büttner

Cell Biology/Molecular Biology
Molecular Genetics
Biochemistry

Our focus is intracellular communication during cellular aging, stress and adaptation. A eukaryotic cell is organized as a network of membrane-delimited organelles that communicate via different means. A prominent mechanism for organelle connectivity is direct contact via membrane contact sites, established by dedicated tethering machineries. Virtually all organelles are connected by contact sites, and such physical interaction facilitates the integration of compartmentalized processes by exchange of metabolites, lipids and ions. Contact sites are in a prime position to connect organellar activities and thus might represent critical nodes to fine-tune mitochondrial, cytosolic and ER-localized proteostasis subsystems, thereby ensuring a functional proteome and cellular fitness. We are interested in how the accumulation of proteotoxic proteins during aging contributes to the sequential decay of different proteostasis subsystems and how direct organellar contact supports the maintenance of cellular proteostasis.

To unravel how organelle connectivity contributes to protein and lipid homeostasis during aging, we use yeast as a genetically-tractable model organism and a combination of molecular and cell biology, genetics, biochemistry and imaging techniques. We complement our studies in yeast, a prime model system to study molecular concepts of organelle tethering, with Drosophila research to extend our findings from the cellular to the organismal level.

Prof. Dr. Sabrina Büttner
University of Münster
Institute of Integrative Cell Biology and Physiology (IIZP)

Schlossplatz 8
48149 Münster

T: +49 (0) 251- 83 - 24786
sabrina.buettner@uni-muenster.de

Vita

1999 - 2004 Studies in Biochemistry, University Tübingen, Germany
2004 - 2007 PhD Studies, University of Graz, Austria
2007 - 2009 Postdoc, University of Graz, Austria
2009 - 2015 Principle Investigator (FWF fellow), University of Graz, Austria
2013 Habilitation in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Graz, Austria
2014 - 2019 Assistant/Associate Professor, University of Graz, Austria
2015 - 2019 Assistant Professor, Stockholm University, Sweden
2019 - 2023 Associate Professor, Stockholm University, Sweden
2023 - 2024 Professor for Molecular Cell Biology, Stockholm University, Sweden
Since 2024 Professor for Cell Biology, University of Münster, Germany

Selected references

Álvarez-Guerra I, Block E, Broeskamp F, Gabrijelčič S, Infant T, de Ory A, Habernig L, Andréasson C, Levine TP, Höög JL, Büttner S (2024). LDO proteins and Vac8 form a vacuole-lipid droplet contact site required for lipophagy in response to starvation. Dev Cell 59(6):759-775.e5.

Kohler V, Kohler A, Berglund LL, Hao X, Gersing S, Imhof A, Nyström T, Höög JL, Ott M, Andréasson C, Büttner S (2024). Nuclear Hsp104 safeguards the dormant translation machinery during quiescence. Nat Commun 15(1):315.

Prokisch S, Büttner S (2024). Partitioning into ER membrane microdomains impacts autophagic protein turnover during cellular aging. Sci Rep 13;14(1):13653

Tosal-Castano S, Peselj C, Kohler V, Habernig L, Berglund LL, Ebrahimi M, Vögtle FN, Höög J, Andréasson C, Büttner S (2021). Snd3 controls nucleus-vacuole junctions in response to glucose signaling. Cell Rep 34(3):108637.

Duan J, Zhao Y, Li H, Habernig L, Gordon MD, Miao X, Engström Y, Büttner S (2020). Bab2 functions as an ecdysone-responsive transcriptional repressor during Drosophila development. Cell Rep 32(4):107972.

Links

Büttner Lab