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Poepsel Lab

Structure and Biochemistry of Epigenetic Regulators

We want to uncover regulatory mechanisms of development, stress response pathways and disease on the molecular level. We are studying key transcription factors and chromatin-associated enzymes that control cell fate and cellular state transitions. Using a range of cell biology, biochemistry and integrative structural biology approaches, we aim to elucidate how the dynamics of protein-protein interactions mediate enzymatic regulation and protein function.

Selected Publications

  • Sauer PV*, Pavlenko E*, Cookis T, Zirden LC, Renn J, Singhal A, Hunold P, Hoehne MN, van Ray O, Hänsel-Hertsch R, Sanbonmatsu KY, Nogales E# and Poepsel S#. 2024. Activation of automethylated PRC2 by dimerization on chromatin. Molecular Cell. Volume 84, Issue 20, p3885-3898.e8 doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2024.08.025 (# = co-corresponding authors)
  • Rothemann RA*, Pavlenko E*, Mondal M, Gerlich S, Grobushkin P, Mostert S, Racho J, Weiss K, Stobbe D, Stillger K, Lapacz K, Salscheider SL, Petrungaro C, Ehninger D, Nuguyen THD, Dengjel J, Neundorf I, Bano D, Poepsel S# and Riemer J#. 2024. Interaction with AK2A links AIFM1 to cellular energy metabolism. bioRxiv (preprint)doi: doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.09.611957 (# = co-corresponding authors)
  • Kasinath V, Beck C, Sauer P, Poepsel S, Kosmatka J, Faini M, Toso D, Aebersold R, Nogales E. 2021. JARID2 and AEBP2 regulate PRC2 in the presence of H2AK119ub1 and other histone modifications. Science. Jan 22;371(6527):eabc3393. doi: 10.1126/science.abc3393.
  • Finogenova K, Bonnet J, Poepsel S, Schäfer IB, Finkl K, Schmid K, Litz C, Strauss M, Benda C, Müller J. 2020. Structural basis for PRC2 decoding of active histone methylation marks H3K36me2/3. Elife. 2020 Nov 19;9:e61964. doi: 10.7554/eLife.61964.
  • Kasinath, V*, Poepsel, S*, and Nogales, E. 2019. Recent Structural Insights into Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 Regulation and Substrate Binding (REVIEW)Biochemistry. 58(5):346-354. 
  • Poepsel, S, Kasinath, V and Nogales, E. 2018. Cryo-EM structures of PRC2 simultaneously engaged with two functionally distinct nucleosomes. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 25, 154-162. 
  • Kasinath, V., Faini, M., Poepsel, S., Reif, D., Feng X.A., Stjepanovic, G., Aebersold, R. and Nogales, E. 2018. Structures of human PRC2 with its cofactors AEBP2 and JARID2. Science. 359: 940-944. 
  • Kellogg, E.H., Hejab, N., Poepsel, S., Downing, K.H., DiMaio, F., Nogales, E. 2018. Near-atomic model of microtubule-tau interactions. Science. 360(6394):1242-1246. 
  • Poepsel, S., Sprengel, A., Sacca, B., Kaschani, F., Kaiser, M., Gatsogiannis, C., Raunser, S., Clausen, T., Ehrmann, M.: Determinants of amyloid fibril degradation by the PDZ protease HTRA1. Nature Chemial Biology. 11: 862-9. 
  • *Tennstaedt, A., *Popsel, S., Truebestein, L., et al. 2012. Human High Temperature Requirement Serine Protease A1 (HTRA1) Degrades Tau Protein Aggregates. Journal of Biological Chemistry 287: 20931-20941.
  • *Merdanovic, M., *Mamant, N., *Meltzer, M., *Poepsel, S., Auckenthaler, A., Melgaard, R., et al. 2010. Determinants of structural and functional plasticity of a widely conserved protease chaperone complex. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 17: 837-843.