Fall 2024 Grantee Highlight:
Anthony Mustoe

Anthony Mustoe, PhD
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry, Baylor College of Medicine

Transcription—the production of RNA from DNA—constitutes the pivotal step of gene expression in biology. Proper regulation of transcription is essential to life, and dysregulation of transcription is a hallmark of diseases such as cancer. The 7SK non-coding RNA (snRNA) plays a central role in regulating transcription by chaperoning the transcription activation factor P-TEFb, keeping P-TEFb inactive until it is released at specific DNA loci. The Mustoe Lab recently discovered that 7SK folds into multiple structures that enable 7SK to alternatively bind or release P-TEFb. However, the biochemical mechanisms controlling 7SK structural switching and P-TEFb release remain unclear. Their research will integrate high-resolution RNA structure profiling, super-resolution microscopy, and genetics to define how localized 7SK structural switching enables precise spatial control of transcription. Overall, the work is expected to provide a new mechanistic understanding of transcription, reveal future therapeutic opportunities, and establish new biophysical principles for how RNA folding in cells drives cell biology.