Uncovering Biological Roles of Protein Arginine Methylation

  Our previous work demonstrated a role for yeast Hmt1 in the formation and maintenance of yeast silent chromatin, a structure that is analogous to mammalian heterochromatin. Using a systems-biology approach, we further defined coherent emergent biological behaviors involving with respect to how this enzyme controls steps in these biological processes and their interconnectivities to other processes. For example, we recently identified an important role for Hmt1 in the regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase III in response to stress. This work revealed an important role of this modification in stress biology and non-coding RNA biogenesis.