En la actualidad, las áreas de investigación de mayor interés que trabajamos en el laboratorio comprenden: estructura y función de la cromatina; regulación epigenética de los mecanismos de respuesta a patógenos en Arabidopsis thaliana; función en Arabidopsis de miembros del grupo Trithorax y su relación en la respuesta a organismos patógenos; estudios de la dinámica de la expresión génica; metilación de las histonas; ARN de interferencia (RNAi): mecanismos y análisis; evolución y estudios filogenéticos.

 

 The main research areas in our lab include: chromatin structure and function; epigenetic regulation of the interaction plant-pathogen; histone methylation; RNA interference; evolution and phylogenetic analysis.

 

 

 

 

*Publicaciones originales (Recent publications):

 

  •  Saleh, A., Alvarez-Venegas, R., and Avramova, Z. (2008). Dynamic and stable histone H3 methylation patterns at the Arabidopsis FLC and AP1 loci. Gene 423(1):43–47.
  • Saleh, A., Alvarez-Venegas, R., and Avramova, Z. (2008). An efficient chromatin immunoprecipitation protocol (ChIP) for studying histone modifications in Arabidopsis plants. Nature Protocols 3(6): 1018-1025.
  • Saleh, A., Alvarez-Venegas, R., Yilmaz, M., Oahn-Le, Hou, G., Sadder, M., Al-Abdallat, A., Xia, Y., Lu, G., Ladunga, I., and Avramova, Z. (2008). The highly similar Arabidopsis homologs of trithorax ATX1 and ATX2 encode divergent biochemical functions. Plant Cell 20(3): 568-579.

 

  • Saleh, A., Al-Abdallat, A., Ndamukong, I., Alvarez-Venegas, R. and Avramova, Z. (2007). The Arabidopsis homologs of trithorax (ATX1) and enhancer of zeste (CLF) establish ‘bivalent chromatin marks’ at the silent AGAMOUS locus. Nucleic Acids Research 35(18):6290-6296.
  • Alvarez-Venegas, R., Al-Abdallat, A., Guo, M., Alfano, J., and Avramova, Z. (2007). Epigenetic Control of a Transcription Factor at the Cross Section of Two Antagonistic Pathways. Epigenetics 2(2):106-117.

  • Alvarez-Venegas, R., Sadder, M., Tikhonov, A., and Avramova, Z. (2007). Origin of the bacterial SET domain genes: vertical or horizontal? Molecular Biology and Evolution 24(2):482-497.

  • Alvarez-Venegas, R., Yuannan Xia, Guoqing Lu, and Zoya Avramova (2006). Phosphoinositide 5-Phosphate and Phosphoinositide 4-Phosphate Trigger Distinct Specific Responses of Arabidopsis Genes; Genome-Wide Expression Analyses. Plant Signaling and Behavior 1(3):140-151.
  • Alvarez-Venegas, R., Sadder, M., Hlavacka, A., Baluška, F., Xia, Y., Lu, G., Firsov, A., Sarath, G., Moriyama, H., Dubrovsky, J. and Avramova, Z. (2006). The Arabidopsis homolog of trithorax, ATX1, binds phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate, and the two regulate a common set of target genes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 103(15): 6049–6054.
  • Alvarez-Venegas, R. and Avramova, Z. (2005). Methylation patterns of histone H3 Lys 4, Lys 9 and Lys 27 in transcriptionally active and inactive Arabidopsis genes and in atx1 mutants. Nucleic Acids Research 33(16):5199-5207.
  • Alvarez-Venegas, R., Pien, S., Sadder, M., Witmer, X., Grossniklaus, U. and Avramova, Z. (2003). ATX-1, an Arabidopsis Homolog of Trithorax, Activates Flower Homeotic Genes. Current Biology 13(8):627-637.
  • Witmer, X., Alvarez-Venegas, R., San-Miguel, P. Danilevskaya, O., and Avramova, Z. (2003). Putative subunits of the maize origin of replication recognition complex ZmORC1-ZmORC5. Nucleic Acids Research 31(2):619-628.
  • Hlavacka, A., Alvarez-Venegas, R., Volkmann, D., Baluska, F., and Avramova, Z. (2003). Arabidopsis Trithorax homolog ATX1: nucleus versus plasma membrane. European Journal of Cell Biology 82: 62 Suppl. 53.
  • Alvarez-Venegas, R. and Avramova, Z. (2002). SET-domain genes of the Su(var)3-9, E(z), and Trithorax families. Gene 285:25-37.
  • Alvarez-Venegas, R. and Avramova, Z. (2001). Two Arabidopsis homologs of the animal trithorax genes: a new structural domain is a signature feature of the trithorax gene family. Gene 271:215-221.
  • Alvarez-Venegas, R., Castellanos-Molina R., Martínez-Bustos F., Cruz-Mondragón. C. (1997). Antiphysiological and nutritional factor changes in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) seeds during germination. Archivos Latinoamericanos de Nutrición. 47(2):136-40.
  • Alvarez-Venegas, R., et al. (1988). A bibliography for health sciences curricula. College of Humanities and Sciences-Azcapotzalco. National Autonomous University of México. (Spanish).

 

 Articulos relacionados (Related publications):

 

  • Chendhore, V., Avramova, Z., and Moriyama, E. Evolution of SET-domain protein families in the unicellular and multicellular Ascomycota fungi. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2008, 8:190.
  • Pien S, Fleury D, Mylne JS, Crevillen P, Inzé D, Avramova Z, Dean C, Grossniklaus U. ARABIDOPSIS TRITHORAX-1 Dynamically Regulates FLOWERING LOCUS C Activation via Histone 3 Lysine 4 Trimethylation. Plant Cell 2008 Mar 28 [Epub ahead of print]
  • Pien S, Grossniklaus U. Polycomb group and trithorax group proteins in Arabidopsis. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2007 May-Jun;1769(5-6):375-82. Review.

 

*Ph.D. Thesis:

  • Raúl Alvarez-Venegas (2002). Putative Gene Homologs of Trithorax in Arabidopsis. Purdue University Graduate School, Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette IN, USA. ProQuest Digital Dissertations Publication number: AAT 3099120. ISBN: 0-496-46713-1. Source: DAI-B 64/07, p. 3094, Jan 2004