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Elizabeth Grayhack, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Phone Numbers

Office: (585) 275-2765

Fax: (585) 271-2683

Research Labs

Faculty Appointments

Biography

Research

Translation of the genetic code from triplet codons in mRNAs into the amino acids in proteins determines the protein composition in the cell. The translation process influences the amount of each protein, the errors within each protein, as well as programmed deviations that affect the protein sequence. Although accurate and efficient translation of mRNA into proteins is crucially important for the cell, there are substantial differences in translation caused by the choice of synonymous codons used to encode a polypeptide. Synonymous codons specify insertion of the identical amino acid, but differ from each other in the amounts of tRNA available to decode the codon as well as the need for wobble base pairing between the codon and the anticodon of the tRNA.

The goal of research in the Grayhack laboratory is to define the rules and mechanisms by which specific arrangements of codons impair translation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and to identify regulatory models dictated by codon usage in the yeast genome. Although codon use has been implicated as a determinant of expression levels, neither the identity, nor the defining characteristics of codons that impair expression are known. We demonstrated that translation of CGA codon pairs is remarkably inefficient due to wobble decoding, which implicated interactions between sites in the ribosome and the ribosome decoding process as mediators of translation efficiency. We are currently examining the mechanisms by which CGA codon pairs modulate translation and defining novel codon combinations that reduce translation efficiency.

Credentials

Education

1974
BA | Lawrence University
Chemistry

1981
PhD | Cornell University
Biology

Publications

Journal Articles

12/16/2021
Houston L, Platten EM, Connelly SM, Wang J, Grayhack EJ. "Frameshifting at collided ribosomes is modulated by elongation factor eEF3 and by Integrated Stress Response regulators Gcn1 and Gcn20." RNA.. 2021 Dec 16; Epub 2021 Dec 16.

12/21/2018
Ghoneim DH, Zhang X, Brule CE, Mathews DH, Grayhack EJ. "Conservation of location of several specific inhibitory codon pairs in the Saccharomyces sensu stricto yeasts reveals translational selection." Nucleic acids research.. 2018 Dec 21; Epub 2018 Dec 21.

11/22/2018
Wang J, Zhou J, Yang Q, Grayhack EJ. "Multi-protein Bridging Factor 1(Mbf1), Rps3 and Asc1 prevent stalled ribosomes from frameshifting." eLife.. 2018 Nov 22; 7Epub 2018 Nov 22.

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