Killam Seminar Series: Conventional Genome Annotations Underestimate the Coding Potential of our Genes, and Ribosomes Don’t Care About Them Anyway

Speaker: Xavier Roucou, Ph.D.

Professor and Department Chair of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec

Registration: available now on Eventbrite

Livestreaming via Vimeo: Vimeo

Abstract: Tens of thousands of open reading frames (ORFs) are hidden within genomes. They have eluded annotations because they are either small or within unsuspected locations. These are named alternative ORFs (altORFs) and have recently been highlighted by innovative proteogenomic approaches, such as our OpenProt resource, revealing their existence and implications in biological functions. Genetic screens, ribosome profiling and mass spectrometry studies have demonstrated the translation of thousands of altORFs into functional alternative proteins across several species. Due to the absence of altORFs from annotations, pathogenic mutations within these are being ignored. I will discuss our latest progress on the functional characterization of a second protein coded by the FUS gene and on the re-analysis of large-scale proteomics datasets to improve our knowledge of proteomic diversity.

The Killam Seminar Series at The Neuro

Supported by the generosity of the Killam Trusts, The Neuro’s Killam Seminar series hosts outstanding guest speakers whose research is of interest to the scientific community at The Neuro and McGill University.

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