Robin Allshire Explained

Robin Allshire
Birth Name:Robin Campbell Allshire
Fields:Epigenetics
Heterochromatin
Chromatin
Centromere
Kinetochore
Workplaces:University of Edinburgh
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Alma Mater:Trinity College Dublin (BSc)
University of Edinburgh (PhD)
Thesis Title:Construction and analysis of vectors based on bovine papilloma virus
Thesis Url:http://hdl.handle.net/1842/11176
Thesis Year:1985
Doctoral Advisor:Chris Bostock
Edwin Southern
Academic Advisors:Nicholas Hastie
Spouses:)-->
Partners:)-->

Robin Campbell Allshire (born 19 May 1960) [1] [2] [3] is Professor of Chromosome Biology[4] at University of Edinburgh and a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow.[5] His research group at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology[6] focuses on the epigenetic mechanisms governing the assembly of specialised domains of chromatin and their transmission through cell division.[7]

Early life and education

Allshire grew up in the fishing village of Howth, Co Dublin 1960–1978. His parents were Arthur Gordon Allshire (1925-2012) who was a Pharmacist and Freda Margaret (née Schmutz; 1933–2014).[8] [9] He was awarded his Bachelor of Arts degree in Genetics by Trinity College Dublin, in 1981 where he was motivated by the inspirational teaching of David McConnell and colleagues at the Dept of Genetics to undertake post-graduate studies.[10] He subsequently joined the Medical Research Council (MRC) Mammalian Genome Unit at the University of Edinburgh where he obtained his PhD in 1985[11] under the guidance of Chris Bostock and Edwin Southern investigating the use of bovine papillomavirus as a chassis for mammalian artificial chromosome construction.[11]

Career and research

In 1985 Allshire joined Nicholas Hastie's research group at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh (formerly MRC Clinical and Population Cytogentics Unit) as a postdoctoral researcher where he discovered that mammalian telomeres are composed of simple repetitive sequences similar to those of unicellular eukaryotes[12] and that telomere length in blood cells shorten with age and are further eroded in cancerous cells.[13] This work resulted from following the fate of fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) telomeres after introdroducing fission yeast chromosomes into mouse cell in collaboration with Peter Fantes.[14] In 1989 he took a position as an independent visiting scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) for 18 months before joining the MRC Human Genetics Unit as a junior group leader. While at CSHL he decided to switch his focus to investigating chromosomal elements in the genetically tractable fission yeast.[15] At the MRC HGU, Edinburgh (1990 - 2002), and subsequently at the Wellome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh (2002–present), he discovered that genes are silenced when placed within fission yeast centromeres[16] [17] and telomeres,[18] and then utilised this gene silencing to gain fundamental insights into the processes of chromosome segregation,[19] [20] [21] and heterochromatin[22] [23] [24] [25] and kinetochore CENP-A chromatin[26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] establishment[32] [33] and maintenance.[34] [35] [36] He is particularly interested in the epigenetic mechanisms that allow the persistence of specialised chromatin domains through multiple cell divisions and meiosis.[37] He has investigated how RNA interference (RNAi) mediates heterochromatin formation[38] [39] [40] and shown that splicing factors contribute to heterochromatin integrity via siRNA generation and RNAi.[41] [42] He has provided insight into how transcription and resulting non-coding RNA might influence the assembly of specialised CENP-A chromatin[43] [44] [45] [46] and demonstrated that some acts of lncRNA transcription are responsive to environmental stimuli and regulate neighbouring genes by transcriptional interference.[47] [48] Recently using fission yeast his team discovered an epigenetic mechanism that allows fungi to develop resistance to antifungal drugs without alterations to their DNA.[49] This finding is important for understanding how pathogenic fungi become resistant to the limited number of available antifungal agents in both clinical and agricultural arenas.

Awards and honours

Allshire was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2005,[50] a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2011 [2] and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2020.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Professor Robin Campbell Allshire FRS, FRSE. rse.org.uk. 24 August 2020.
  2. Web site: Professor Robin Allshire FRS. royalsociety.org. Anon. 2011. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
  3. Web site: Professor Robin Allshire | the Academy of Medical Sciences. Academy of Medical Sciences.
  4. Web site: Allshire lab members.
  5. Web site: Principal Research Fellowships: people we've funded. wellcome.ac.uk. Wellcome Trust.
  6. Web site: Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology - Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology. University of Edinburgh.
  7. Web site: Wellcome Trust lab. 11 January 2024 .
  8. News: ALLSHIRE, Arthur : Death notice - Irish Times Family Notices. The Irish Times.
  9. News: ALLSHIRE, Freda Margaret : Death notice - Irish Times Family Notices. The Irish Times.
  10. Web site: EPIGENETICS AND SPECIALIZED CHROMATIN.
  11. PhD. University of Edinburgh. 1842/11176. Construction and analysis of vectors based on bovine papilloma virus. Robin Campbell. Allshire. 1985. . 606010479.
  12. 10.1038/332656a0 . 2833706 . Telomeric repeat from T. Thermophila cross hybridizes with human telomeres . Nature . 332 . 6165 . 656–9 . 1988 . Allshire . Robin C . Gosden . John R . Cross . Sally H . Cranston . Gwen . Rout . Derek . Sugawara . Neal . Szostak . Jack W . Fantes . Peter A . Hastie . Nicholas D . 1988Natur.332..656A . 4352376 .
  13. 10.1038/346866a0 . 2392154 . Telomere reduction in human colorectal carcinoma and with ageing . Nature . 346 . 6287 . 866–8 . 1990 . Hastie . Nicholas D . Dempster . Maureen . Dunlop . Malcolm G . Thompson . Alastair M . Green . Daryll K . Allshire . Robin C . 1990Natur.346..866H . 4258451 .
  14. 3475186 . 1987 . Allshire . R. C . A fission yeast chromosome can replicate autonomously in mouse cells . Cell . 50 . 3 . 391–403 . Cranston . G . Gosden . J. R . Maule . J. C . Hastie . N. D . Fantes . P. A . 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90493-4 . 2193386 .
  15. 2349217 . 54043 . 1990 . Allshire . R. C . Introduction of large linear minichromosomes into Schizosaccharomyces pombe by an improved transformation procedure . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 87 . 11 . 4043–7 . 10.1073/pnas.87.11.4043 . 1990PNAS...87.4043A . free .
  16. 8287474 . 1994 . Allshire . R. C . Position effect variegation at fission yeast centromeres . Cell . 76 . 1 . 157–69 . Javerzat . J. P . Redhead . N. J . Cranston . G . 10.1016/0092-8674(94)90180-5 . 42369473 .
  17. 7851795 . 1995 . Allshire . R. C . Mutations derepressing silent centromeric domains in fission yeast disrupt chromosome segregation . Genes & Development . 9 . 2 . 218–33 . Nimmo . E. R . Ekwall . K . Javerzat . J. P . Cranston . G . 10.1101/gad.9.2.218 . free .
  18. 8070408 . 395293 . 1994 . Nimmo . E. R . Telomere-associated chromosome breakage in fission yeast results in variegated expression of adjacent genes . The EMBO Journal . 13 . 16 . 3801–11 . Cranston . G . Allshire . R. C . 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1994.tb06691.x .
  19. 10.1038/33941 . 9572142 . Defective meiosis in telomere-silencing mutants of Schizosaccharomyces pombe . Nature . 392 . 6678 . 825–8 . 1998 . Nimmo . Elaine R . Pidoux . Alison L . Perry . Paul E . Allshire . Robin C . 1998Natur.392..825N . 4412433 .
  20. 11069763 . 2000 . Pidoux . A. L . Live analysis of lagging chromosomes during anaphase and their effect on spindle elongation rate in fission yeast . Journal of Cell Science . 113 Pt 23 . 4177–91 . Uzawa . S . Perry . P. E . Cande . W. Z . Allshire . R. C . 23 . 10.1242/jcs.113.23.4177 .
  21. 10.1126/science.1064027 . 11598266 . Requirement of Heterochromatin for Cohesion at Centromeres . Science . 294 . 5551 . 2539–42 . 2001 . Bernard . P . Maure . J. F . Partridge . J. F . Genier . S . Javerzat . J. P . Allshire . R. C . 2001Sci...294.2539B . 31166180 .
  22. 7660126 . 1995 . Ekwall . K . The chromodomain protein Swi6: A key component at fission yeast centromeres . Science . 269 . 5229 . 1429–31 . Javerzat . J. P . Lorentz . A . Schmidt . H . Cranston . G . Allshire . R . 10.1126/science.7660126 . 1995Sci...269.1429E . 38678389 .
  23. 9428524 . 1997 . Ekwall . K . Transient inhibition of histone deacetylation alters the structural and functional imprint at fission yeast centromeres . Cell . 91 . 7 . 1021–32 . Olsson . T . Turner . B. M . Cranston . G . Allshire . R. C . 10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80492-4 . free .
  24. 10.1038/35065138 . 11242054 . Selective recognition of methylated lysine 9 on histone H3 by the HP1 chromo domain . Nature . 410 . 6824 . 120–4 . 2001 . Bannister . Andrew J . Zegerman . Philip . Partridge . Janet F . Miska . Eric A . Thomas . Jean O . Allshire . Robin C . Kouzarides . Tony . 2001Natur.410..120B . 4334447 .
  25. 12361567 . 2002 . Partridge . J. F . Cis-acting DNA from fission yeast centromeres mediates histone H3 methylation and recruitment of silencing factors and cohesin to an ectopic site . Current Biology . 12 . 19 . 1652–60 . Scott . K. S . Bannister . A. J . Kouzarides . T . Allshire . R. C . 10.1016/S0960-9822(02)01177-6 . free .
  26. 10.1083/jcb.200212110 . 12719471 . 2172903 . Sim4 . The Journal of Cell Biology . 161 . 2 . 295–307 . 2003 . Pidoux . Alison L . Richardson . William . Allshire . Robin C .
  27. 17677001 . 1934396 . 2007 . Castillo . A. G . Plasticity of fission yeast CENP-A chromatin driven by relative levels of histone H3 and H4 . PLOS Genetics . 3 . 7 . e121 . Mellone . B. G . Partridge . J. F . Richardson . W . Hamilton . G. L . Allshire . R. C . Pidoux . A. L . 10.1371/journal.pgen.0030121 . free .
  28. 10.1016/j.molcel.2007.10.010 . 18158900 . 2193228 . A NASP (N1/N2)-Related Protein, Sim3, Binds CENP-A and is Required for Its Deposition at Fission Yeast Centromeres . Molecular Cell . 28 . 6 . 1029–44 . 2007 . Dunleavy . Elaine M . Pidoux . Alison L . Monet . Marie . Bonilla . Carolina . Richardson . William . Hamilton . Georgina L . Ekwall . Karl . McLaughlin . Paul J . Allshire . Robin C .
  29. 10.1016/j.molcel.2009.01.019 . 19217404 . 2697330 . Fission Yeast Scm3: A CENP-A Receptor Required for Integrity of Subkinetochore Chromatin . Molecular Cell . 33 . 3 . 299–311 . 2009 . Pidoux . Alison L . Choi . Eun Shik . Abbott . Johanna K.R . Liu . Xingkun . Kagansky . Alexander . Castillo . Araceli G . Hamilton . Georgina L . Richardson . William . Rappsilber . Juri . He . Xiangwei . Allshire . Robin C .
  30. 10.1016/j.cell.2009.06.010 . 19563746 . 4397584 . Common Ancestry of the CENP-A Chaperones Scm3 and HJURP . Cell . 137 . 7 . 1173–4 . 2009 . Sanchez-Pulido . Luis . Pidoux . Alison L . Ponting . Chris P . Allshire . Robin C .
  31. 10.1098/rsob.140043 . 24789708 . 4043117 . Eic1 links Mis18 with the CCAN/Mis6/Ctf19 complex to promote CENP-A assembly . Open Biology . 4 . 4 . 140043 . 2014 . Subramanian . L . Toda . N. R. T . Rappsilber . J . Allshire . R. C .
  32. 10.1126/science.1150944 . 18174443 . 2586718 . Heterochromatin and RNAi Are Required to Establish CENP-A Chromatin at Centromeres . Science . 319 . 5859 . 94–7 . 2008 . Folco . H. D . Pidoux . A. L . Urano . T . Allshire . R. C . 2008Sci...319...94F .
  33. 10.1126/science.1172026 . 19556509 . 2949999 . Synthetic Heterochromatin Bypasses RNAi and Centromeric Repeats to Establish Functional Centromeres . Science . 324 . 5935 . 1716–9 . 2009 . Kagansky . A . Folco . H. D . Almeida . R . Pidoux . A. L . Boukaba . A . Simmer . F . Urano . T . Hamilton . G. L . Allshire . R. C . 2009Sci...324.1716K .
  34. 10766735 . 316498 . 2000 . Partridge . J. F . Distinct protein interaction domains and protein spreading in a complex centromere . Genes & Development . 14 . 7 . 783–91 . Borgstrøm . B . Allshire . R. C . 10.1101/gad.14.7.783 .
  35. 10.1038/sj.emboj.7601892 . 17948055 . 2048757 . The JmjC domain protein Epe1 prevents unregulated assembly and disassembly of heterochromatin . The EMBO Journal . 26 . 22 . 4670–82 . 2007 . Trewick . Sarah C . Minc . Elsa . Antonelli . Richard . Urano . Takeshi . Allshire . Robin C .
  36. 10.1038/emboj.2013.72 . 23572080 . 3642681 . Distinct roles for Sir2 and RNAi in centromeric heterochromatin nucleation, spreading and maintenance . The EMBO Journal . 32 . 9 . 1250–64 . 2013 . Buscaino . Alessia . Lejeune . Erwan . Audergon . Pauline . Hamilton . Georgina . Pidoux . Alison . Allshire . Robin C .
  37. 10.1126/science.1260638 . 25838386 . 4397586 . Restricted epigenetic inheritance of H3K9 methylation . Science . 348 . 6230 . 132–5 . 2015 . Audergon . P. N. C. B . Catania . S . Kagansky . A . Tong . P . Shukla . M . Pidoux . A. L . Allshire . R. C . 2015Sci...348..132A .
  38. 10.1038/embor.2009.273 . 20062003 . 2828748 . Hairpin RNA induces secondary small interfering RNA synthesis and silencing in trans in fission yeast . EMBO Reports . 11 . 2 . 112–8 . 2010 . Simmer . Femke . Buscaino . Alessia . Kos-Braun . Isabelle C . Kagansky . Alexander . Boukaba . Abdelhalim . Urano . Takeshi . Kerr . Alastair R W . Allshire . Robin C .
  39. 10.1016/j.cell.2010.01.038 . 20211136 . 2875855 . Stc1: A Critical Link between RNAi and Chromatin Modification Required for Heterochromatin Integrity . Cell . 140 . 5 . 666–77 . 2010 . Bayne . Elizabeth H . White . Sharon A . Kagansky . Alexander . Bijos . Dominika A . Sanchez-Pulido . Luis . Hoe . Kwang-Lae . Kim . Dong-Uk . Park . Han-Oh . Ponting . Chris P . Rappsilber . Juri . Allshire . Robin C .
  40. 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002499 . 22319459 . 3271066 . Raf1 is a DCAF for the Rik1 DDB1-Like Protein and Has Separable Roles in siRNA Generation and Chromatin Modification . PLOS Genetics . 8 . 2 . e1002499 . 2012 . Buscaino . Alessia . White . Sharon A . Houston . Douglas R . Lejeune . Erwan . Simmer . Femke . De Lima Alves . Flavia . Diyora . Piyush T . Urano . Takeshi . Bayne . Elizabeth H . Rappsilber . Juri . Allshire . Robin C . free .
  41. 10.1126/science.1164029 . 18948543 . 2585287 . Splicing Factors Facilitate RNAi-Directed Silencing in Fission Yeast . Science . 322 . 5901 . 602–6 . 2008 . Bayne . E. H . Portoso . M . Kagansky . A . Kos-Braun . I. C . Urano . T . Ekwall . K . Alves . F . Rappsilber . J . Allshire . R. C . 2008Sci...322..602B .
  42. 10.1186/s13059-014-0481-4 . 25274039 . 4210515 . A systematic genetic screen identifies new factors influencing centromeric heterochromatin integrity in fission yeast . Genome Biology . 15 . 10 . 481 . 2014 . Bayne . Elizabeth H . Bijos . Dominika A . White . Sharon A . Alves . Flavia de Lima . Rappsilber . Juri . Allshire . Robin C . free .
  43. 10.1074/jbc.M111.228510 . 21531710 . 3123123 . Identification of Noncoding Transcripts from within CENP-A Chromatin at Fission Yeast Centromeres . Journal of Biological Chemistry . 286 . 26 . 23600–7 . 2011 . Choi . Eun Shik . Strålfors . Annelie . Castillo . Araceli G . Durand-Dubief . Mickaël . Ekwall . Karl . Allshire . Robin C . free .
  44. 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002985 . 23028377 . 3447972 . Factors That Promote H3 Chromatin Integrity during Transcription Prevent Promiscuous Deposition of CENP-ACnp1 in Fission Yeast . PLOS Genetics . 8 . 9 . e1002985 . 2012 . Choi . Eun Shik . Strålfors . Annelie . Catania . Sandra . Castillo . Araceli G . Svensson . J. Peter . Pidoux . Alison L . Ekwall . Karl . Allshire . Robin C . free .
  45. 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004986 . 25738810 . 4349457 . Sequence Features and Transcriptional Stalling within Centromere DNA Promote Establishment of CENP-A Chromatin . PLOS Genetics . 11 . 3 . e1004986 . 2015 . Catania . Sandra . Pidoux . Alison L . Allshire . Robin C . free .
  46. 10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.049 . 30503616 . 6303189 . Centromere DNA Destabilizes H3 Nucleosomes to Promote CENP-A Deposition during the Cell Cycle . Current Biology . 28 . 24 . 3924–3936 . 2018 . Shukla M . Manu . Allshire . Robin C .
  47. 10.1038/ncomms6576 . 25428589 . 4255232 . Long non-coding RNA-mediated transcriptional interference of a permease gene confers drug tolerance in fission yeast . Nature Communications . 5 . 5576 . 2014 . Ard . Ryan . Tong . Pin . Allshire . Robin C . 2014NatCo...5.5576A .
  48. 10.1093/nar/gkw801 . 27613421 . 5159543 . Transcription-coupled changes to chromatin underpin gene silencing by transcriptional interference . Nucleic Acids Research . 44 . 22 . 10619–10630 . 2016 . Ard . Ryan . Allshire . Robin C .
  49. Torres-Garcia . Sito . Epigenetic gene silencing by heterochromatin primes fungal resistance . Nature . 2020 . 585 . 7825. 453–458 . 10.1038/s41586-020-2706-x . 32908306 . 7116710 . 2020Natur.585..453T .
  50. Web site: biography. ICG. 4 December 2018.
  51. Web site: Genetics Society Medal 2013. Genetics Society. 4 December 2018.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Robin Allshire".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.