Name: Annette Plachetka
Diploma / M.Sc degree: Universität Bielefeld, Germany
(September 2004)
Title: Analysis of the Chromatin Remodelling Function of the Transcription Factor C/EBPβ

Abstract of Research Project

Significant changes in gene expression, that result in processes such as differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis of cells are mainly controlled at transcriptional level. This control is due to transcription factors that interact both with DNA and the transcriptional machinery and thereby stimulate or repress the expression of certain genes. As the DNA is packed tightly into chromatin, and therefore not accessible for the transcriptional machinery, several transcription factors are involved in chromatin remodelling.

The transcription factor C/EBPβ belongs to the C/EBP family of transcription factors which have been implicated in the differentiation of certain cell types, such as fat and liver cells, granulocytes and macrophages. C/EBPβ cooperates with the coactivator p300 in order to activate its target genes. It is also know that C/EBPβ is involved in chromatin remodelling.

The main aim of this work is to gain more detailed information on the ability of C/EBPβ to induce a localized remodelling of the chromatin structure. Another goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms that lead to the cooperation of C/EBPβ and p300 and, as a consequence, to the activation of transcription.


Annette Plachetka
eMail: Annette Plachetka