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Investigators and Program Directors

Marlene Belfort

Marlene Belfort

Research Scientist, Wadsworth Center, Molecular Genetics
Distinguished Professor, School of Public Health, Biomedical Sciences
Member, National Academy of Sciences

Ph.D., University of California at Irvine (1972)
Postdoctoral training, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

E-mail: belfort@wadsworth.org

<< Research Interests

Select Publications

  • Coros, C.J., Piazza, C. L., Chalamcharla, V.R., Smith, D. and Belfort, M. Global regulators orchestrate group II intron retromobility. Mol. Cell (2009) In press.
  • Coros, C.J., Piazza, C. L. , Chalamcharla, V.R. and Belfort, M. A mutant screen reveals RNase E as a silencer of group II intron retromobility in Escherichia coli. RNA (2008) 14, 2634-2644.
  • Beauregard, A., Curcio, M.J. and Belfort, M. The take and give between retrotransposable elements and their hosts. Annu. Rev. Genetics. (2008) 42, 587-617.
  • Liu, Q.Q., Dansereau, J.T., Puttamadappa, S,S, Shekhtman, A., Derbyshire, V. and Belfort, M. Role of the interdomain linker in distance determination for remote cleavage by homing endonuclease I-TevI . J. Mol. Biol. (2008) 379, 1094-1106.
  • Du, Z., Liu, Y., Zheng, Y., McCallum, S., Dansereau, J., Derbyshire, V., Belfort, M., Belfort, G., Van Roey, P. and Wang, C. 1H, 13C, and 15N NMR assignments of an engineered intein based on Mycobacterium tuberculosis RecA. Biomol. NMR Assign (2008) 2, 111-113.
  • Curcio, M.J. and Belfort, M. The beginning of the end: Links between ancient retroelements and modern telomerases. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2007) 104, 9107-9108.
  • Van Roey, P., Pereira, B., Li, Zh., Hiraga, K., Belfort, M., and Derbyshire, V. A Pivotal, highly conserved aspartate in the Mtu recA intein is proximal to and functional at both termini. J. Mol. Biol., (2007) 367, 162-173.
  • Slagter-Jäger, J.G., Puzis, L., Gutgsell, N.S., Belfort, M. and Chaitanya, J. Functional defects in transfer RNAs lead to the accumulation of ribosomal RNA precursors. RNA (2007) 13 , 597-605.
  • Robbins, J.B., Stapleton, M., Stanger, M.J., Smith, D., Dansereau, J.T., Derbyshire, V., and Belfort, M. Homing endonuclease I-TevIII: dimerization as a means to a double-strand break. Nucleic Acids Res. (2007) 35, 1589-1600.
  • Liu, Q.Q., Derbyshire, V., Belfort, M. and Edgell, D.R. Distance determination by GIY-YIG intron endonucleases: Discrimination between repression and cleavage functions. Nucleic Acids Res. (2006) 34, 1755-1764.
  • Slagter-Jäger, J.G., Allen, G.S., Smith, D., Hahn, I.A., Frank, J. and Belfort, M. Visualization of a group II intron in the 23S rRNA of a stable ribosome. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. (2006) 103, 9838-9843.
  • Silva, G.H., Belfort, M., Wende, W. and Pingoud, A. From monomeric to homodimeric endonucleases and back: engineering novel specificity of LAGLIDADG enzymes. J. Mol. Biol. (2006) 361, 744-754.
  • Beauregard, A., Chalamcharla, V.R., Piazza, C.L., Belfort, M. and Coros, C.J. Bipolar localization of the group II intronLl.LtrB is maintained in Escherichia coli deficient in nucleoid condensation, chromosome partitioning and DNA replication. Mol. Micro. (2006) 62, 709-722.
  • Hiraga, K., Derbyshire, V., Dansereau, J. T., Van Roey, P. and Belfort, M. Minimization and stabilization of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis recA intein. J. Mol. Biol. (2005) 354, 916-926.
  • Smith, D., Zhong, J., Matsuura, M., Lambowitz, A.M. and Belfort, M. 2005. Recruitment of host functions suggests a repair pathway for late steps in group II intron retrohoming. Genes Dev. 19:2477-2487.
  • Conlan, L.H., Stanger, M.J., Ichiyanagi, K. and Belfort, M. 2005. Localization, mobility and fidelity of retrotransposed group II introns in rRNA genes. Nucl. Acids Res. 33:5262-5270.
  • Coros, C.J., Landthaler, M., Piazza, C.L., Beauregard, A., Esposito, D., Perutka, P., Lambowitz, A.M. and Belfort, M. 2005. Retrotransposition strategies of the Lactococcus lactis Ll.LtrB group II intron are dictated by host identity and cellular environment. Mol. Microbiol. 56:509-524.
  • Belfort, M. Back to basics: structure, function, evolution and application of homing endonucleases and inteins, in Homing Endonucleases and Inteins, Eds. Belfort, M., Derbyshire, V., Stoddard, B.L. and Wood, D.W. Springer Verlag (2005) pp. 1-10.
  • Miao, J., Wu, W., Spielmann, T., Belfort, M., Derbyshire, V., and Belfort, G. 2005. Single-step affinity purification of toxic and non-toxic proteins on a fluidics platform. Lab on a Chip 5:248-253.
  • Blocker, F.J.H., Mohr, G., Conlan, L.H., Qi, L., Belfort, M. and Lambowitz, A.M. 2005. Domain structure and three-dimensional model of a group II intron-encoded reverse transcriptase. RNA 11:14-28.
  • Van Roey, P., Belfort, M., and Derbyshire, V. 2005. Homing endonuclease I-TevI: an atypical zinc finger with a novel function. In: Iuchi, S., Kuldell, N., eds. Zinc finger proteins: from atomic contact to cellular function. Georgetown: Landes Bioscience, New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, pp. 35-38.
  • Edgell, D., Stanger, M.J., and Belfort, M. 2004. Coincidence of cleavage sites of intron endonuclease I-TevI and critical sequences of the host thymidylate synthase gene. J. Mol. Biol. 343:1231-1241.
  • Edgell, D.R., Derbyshire, V., Van Roey, P., LaBonne, S., Stanger, M.J., Li, Z., Boyd, T.M., Shub, D.A., and Belfort, M. 2004. Intron endonuclease I-TevI also functions as a transcriptional autorepressor. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 11:936-944.
  • Lease, R.A., Smith, D., McDonough, K., and Belfort, M. 2004. The small non-coding RNA DsrA is an acid resistance regulator in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 186:6179-6185.
  • Silva, G.H. and Belfort, M. 2004. Analysis of the LAGLIDADG interface of the monomeric homing endonuclease I-DmoI. Nucl. Acids Res. 32:3156-3168.
  • Belfort, M. 2003. Two for the price of one: a bifunctional intron-encoded DNA endonuclease-RNA maturase. Genes Devel. 17:2860-2863.
  • Ichiyanagi, K., Beauregard, A. and Belfort, M. 2003. A bacterial group II intron favors retrotransposition into plasmid targets. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100:15742-15747.
  • Liu, Q., Belle, A., Shub, D.A., Belfort, M. and Edgell, D.R. 2003. SegG endonuclease promotes marker exclusion and mediates co-conversion from a distant cleavage site. J. Mol. Biol. 334:13-23.
  • Edgell, D.R., Stanger, M.J. and M. Belfort. 2003. Importance of a single base pair discrimination between intron-containing and intronless alleles by endonuclease I-BmoI. Current Biology 13:973-978.
  • Wu, W., Wood, D.W., Belfort, G., Derbyshire, V. and Belfort, M. 2002. Intein-mediated purification of cytotoxic endonuclease I-TevI by insertional inactivation and pH-controllable splicing. Nucl. Acids Res. 30:4864-4871.
  • Van Roey, P., Meehan, L., Kowalski, J.C., Belfort, M. and Derbyshire, V. 2002. Catalytic structure and hypothesis for function of GIY-YIG intron endonuclease I-TevI. Nat. Struct. Biol. 9:806-811.
  • Ichiyanagi, K., Beauregard, A., Lawrence, S., Smith, D., Cousineau, B. and Belfort, M. 2002. Retrotransposition of the Ll.LtrB group II intron proceeds predominantly via reverse splicing into DNA targets. Mol. Micro. 46:1259-1272.
  • Dean, A.B., Stanger, M.J., Dansereau, J.T., Van Roey, P., Derbyshire, V., and Belfort, M. 2002. Zinc finger as distance determinant in the flexible linker of intron endonuclease I-TevI. Proc. Nat.l Acad. Sci. USA 99:8554-8561.
  • Belfort, M., Derbyshire, V., Cousineau, B. and Lambowitz, A. 2002. Mobile introns: pathway and proteins. In Mobile DNA II. N. Craig, R. Craigie, M. Gellert and A. Lambowitz, eds. ASM Press. 761-783.
  • Van Roey, P., Waddling, C.A., Fox, K.M., Belfort, M. and Derbyshire, V. 2001. Intertwined structure of the DNA-binding domain of intron endonuclease I-TevI with its substrate. EMBO J. 20:3631-3637.
  • Wood, D.W., Derbyshire, V., Wu, W., Cartrain, M., Belfort, M., and Belfort, G. 2000. Optimized single-step affinity purification with a self-cleaving intein applied to human acidic fibroblast growth factor. Biotech. Prog. 16:1055-1063.
  • Cousineau, B., Lawrence, S., Smith, D. and Belfort, M. 2000. Retrotransposition of a bacterial group II intron. Nature 404:1018-1021.
  • Mohr, G., Smith, D., Belfort, M., and Lambowitz, A.M. 2000. Rules for DNA target-site recognition by a lactococcal group II intron enable retargeting of the intron to specific DNA sequences. Genes & Devel. 14:559-573.
  • Lease, R. and Belfort, M. 2000. A trans-acting RNA as a control switch in E. coli: DsrA RNA modulates function by forming alternative structures. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97:9919-9924.
  • Edgell, D., Shub, D. and Belfort, M. 2000. Barriers to intron promiscuity in bacteria. J. Bacteriol. 182:5281-5289.
  • Lease, R. and Belfort, M. 2000. Riboregulation by DsrA RNA: trans-actions for global economy. Mol. Micro. 38:667-672.
  • Wood, D., Wu, W., Belfort, G., Derbyshire, V. and Belfort, M. 1999. Protein engineering of inteins: genetic system yields self-cleaving element for bioseparations. Nat. Biotech. 17:889-892.
  • Cousineau, B., Smith, D., Lawrence-Cavanagh, S., Mueller, J.E., Yang, J., Mills, D., Manias, D., Dunny, G., Lambowitz, A.M. and Belfort, M. 1998. Retrohoming of a bacterial group II intron: mobility via complete reverse splicing, independent of homologous DNA recombination. Cell 94:451-462.
  • Derbyshire, V. and Belfort, M. 1998. Lightning strikes twice: intron-intein coincidence. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:1356-1357.

Women In Science

  • Belfort, M. 2001. The win-win potential for motherhood and science. Current Biology 11:R41-R42.
  • Belfort, M. 2003. Microbiological moms, their sisters and brothers: the give and take. ASM News 69:553-557.

Book

  • Belfort, M., Derbyshire, V., Stoddard, B.L. and Wood, D.W. Homing Endonucleases and Inteins (2005) Springer Verlag.

Editorials Describing Our Work

  • News and Views. Nature Struct. and Mol. Biol. 2004. 11:910-911. "Double duty" by N. Windbichler and R. Schroeder.
  • News Story. Science. 2003. 300:1646-1649. "Spinning junk into gold" by I. Wickelgren.
  • News and Comment. Trends in Biochem. Sci. 2002. 27:390. "Measure for measure: a zinc finger ruler" by R.W. Alexander.
  • Editors' Choice. Science 2000. 289:1841. "Januslike RNA".
  • Commentary. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2000. 97:9824-9826. "Switching on and off with RNA" by S. Altuvia and G.H. Wagner.
  • News and Views. Nature Structural Biology 2000. 7:352-354. "New tricks from an itinerant intron" by A.M. Pyle.
  • News and Views. Nature 2000. 404:940-943. "Introns gain ground" by T.H. Eickbush.
  • News and Views. Nature Biotechnol. 1999. 17:854-855. "Fine-tuning an engineered intein" by G. Amitai and S. Pietrokovski.
  • Dispatch. Current Biology 1999. 9:R11-R14. "Mobile introns: Retrohoming by complete reverse splicing" by T.H. Eickbush.

Contact Information

Phone: (518) 473-3345
Fax: (518) 474-3181
E-mail: belfort@wadsworth.org