Research Biographies

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DR COLIN GORDON

Chromosomes and Gene Expression

Programme Leader


Colin Gordon

Contact Details

E-mail address: c.gordon@igmm.ed.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)131 332 2471 (extension 3402)
Fax: +44 (0)131 467 8456
Address: MRC Human Genetics Unit MRC IGMM, University of Edinburgh Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU
Research Programme: Regulation of Cell Function through Protein Modification by Ubiquitin and Ubiquitin like Proteins

 

Research Areas

The ubiquitin pathway in fission yeast.

We aim to identify the mechanisms by which post-translational covalent modification of proteins by ubiquitin and ubiquitin like proteins, the most common form of modification in eukaryotic cells, regulate intracellular processes.

The covalent modification is used to regulate many different intracellular processes such as endocytosis, vesicle sorting and virus budding. However, most work on ubiquitin has been carried out on its role as a signal to target proteins for degradation by the 26S proteasome. In humans when the modifications are misregulated the results can be catastrophic for the individual resulting in a wide range of diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Therefore, knowledge of how these basic intracellular pathways work should have direct implications for novel therapies for a wide range of different human diseases.

Key/Selected Publications

  • Donoghue, J. and Gordon, C.. Proteasome interacting proteins. In:The ubiquitin/proteasome system Volume II Ciechanover, A.; Mayer, R.J. and Rechsteiner, M.(eds.) 157-182, 2006
  • Trempe, J.F.; Brown, N.R.; Lowe, E.D.; Gordon, C., Campbell, I.D.; Noble, M.E.M. and Endicott.J.A. Mechanism of Lys48-linked polyubiquitin chain recognition by the Mud1 UBA domain. EMBO Journal 24:3178-3189, 2005 PubMed Abstract
  • Welchman,R.L.; Gordon, C. and Mayer.R.J. Ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteins as multifunctional signals. Nature Mol Cell Biol Rev 6:599-609, 2005 PubMed Abstract
  • Hartmann-Petersen, R.; Wallace, M.; K. Hofmann, K.; Koch, G.; Johnsen, A.H.; Hendil, K.B. and Gordon, C. The Ubx2 and Ubx3 co-factors direct Cdc48 activity to proteolytic and non-proteolytic ubiquitin-dependent processes. Current Biology 14:824-828, 2004 PubMed Abstract
  • Hartmann-Petersen, R. and Gordon, C. Integral UBL domain proteins: a family of proteasome interacting proteins. Semin Cell Dev Biol 15:247-259, 2004 PubMed Abstract
  • Seeger, M.; Hartmann-Petersen, R.; Wilkinson, C.R.M.; Wallace, M.; Samejima, I.; Taylor, M. and C.Gordon. Interaction of the APC/Cyclosome and Proteasome protein complexes with multiubiquitin chain binding proteins. J Biol Chem 278:16791-16796, 2003 PubMed Abstract
  • Hartmann-Petersen, R.; Hendil K.B. and Gordon, C. Ubiquitin binding proteins protect ubiquitin conjugates from disassembly. FEBS Letters 535:77-81, 2003 PubMed Abstract
  • Yen, H-Y. S.; Gordon, C. and Chang. E. Schizosaccharomyces pombe Int6 and Ras homologs regulate cell division and mitotic fidelity via the proteasome. Cell 112:207-217, 2003
    PubMed Abstract
  • Hartmann-Petersen, R.; Seeger, M. and Gordon, C.. Transferring substrates to the 26S proteasome Trends Biochem Sci 28:26-31, 2003 PubMed Abstract
  • Wilkinson, C.R.M., Seeger, M., Hartmann-Petersen, R., Stone, M., Wallace, M., Semple, C. and Gordon, C. Proteins containing the UBA domain are able to bind to multi-ubiquitin chains.
    Nature Cell Biol 3:939-943, 2001 PubMed Abstract

Recent Publications

  • Hartmann-Petersen, R. and Gordon, C. Quantifying Protein-Protein Interactions in the Ubiquitin Pathway by Surface Plasmon Resonance. Methods in Enzymology 399(Part B):164-177, 2005 PubMed Abstract
  • Miller, J. and Gordon, C. The regulation of proteasome degradation by multi-ubiquitin chain binding proteins. FEBS Letters 579:3224-3230, 2005 PubMed Abstract
  • Trempe, J.F.; Brown, N.R.; Lowe, E.D.; Gordon, C.; Campbell, I.D.; Noble, M.E., and Endicott, J.A. Mechanism of Lys48-linked polyubiquitin chain recognition by the Mud1 UBA domain.
    EMBO Journal 24(18):3178-3189, 2005 PubMed Abstract
  • Welchman, R.L.; Gordon, C., and Mayer, R.J. Ubiquitin and Ubiquittin-Like proteins as Multifunctional Signals. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 6:599-609, 2005 PubMed Abstract