Martin Gamerdinger / Elke Deuerling
Protein biogenesis and transport to the endoplasmic reticulum during health, aging and proteotoxic stress in Caenorhabditis elegans
The project investigates the function of the ribosome-associated nascent polypeptide-associated complex (NAC) in protein biogenesis and transport. Recently, we have revealed that NAC acts as a crucial negative regulator of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) transport to ensure targeting specificity. We will address the question of how the inhibitory activity of NAC on ER targeting is precisely regulated on ribosomes during health, aging and proteotoxic stress conditions. Studies will be performed in vitro as well as in vivo using the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans. Furthermore, we will characterize the chaperone function of NAC by conducting structure-function analyses to locate the substrate binding site(s) and to identify the substrate pool of NAC.