Laboratories

Matthias Bochtler, PhD, DSc, Prof.

Laboratory of Genome Engineering

Research Scope

Our laboratory is interested in enzymes that shape the genome and epigenome. Our work ranges from the structural biology of individual enzymes that play a role in genome engineering and epigenome modifications to studies of whole organisms to monitor the actions of these enzymes in a physiological context.

Research

Main Scientific Achievements

  • We discovered the structural basis for sensing DNA modifications by modification-dependent endonucleases.
  • We contributed structures of 6mA-sensing endonucleases of DpnI and discovered a novel, steric conflict-based readout mechanism that detects 6-methyladenine in DNA.
  • We contributed structures of several families of 5-methylcytosine-, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine-, and glucosyl-5-hydroxymethylcytosine-dependent endonucleases and showed that they share a two-domain architecture with the PUA-superfamily or NEco modification sensor and PD-(D/E)XK or HNH catalytic domain.

Research Description

Our laboratory is interested in epigenetics from a biochemical perspective. We want to learn how methyl groups are specifically placed, read, and eventually removed. We take advantage of the fact that methylation is a biochemically ancient process so we can answer mechanistic questions using prokaryotic models. For more biological questions, we must work with mammalian proteins, cells, and animal models. Some of the key conclusions of our work are the following:

 

DNA adenine and cytosine methylation have opposite effects on the stability of double-stranded DNA. Their cellular functions in eukaryotes are broadly consistent with these biochemical tendencies, perhaps because evolution has built on the trends. In prokaryotic models, we have shown that apart from reliance on a hydrophobic effect, adenine and cytosine methylation are read quite differently. Adenine methylation is detected based on induced DNA deformation that is attributable to a methyl-methyl-clash (Mierzejewska et al. 2014), without nucleotide flipping. Cytosine hemi-methylation (or hemi-hydroxymethylation) is read through nucleotide flipping (Kisiala et al. 2018; Kazrani et al. 2014). Full cytosine methylation (in both DNA strands) is selected in the regular dsDNA context without nucleotide flipping (Slyvka et al. 2019). We have further identified a very limited toolkit for the detection of methylation that relies on a winged-helix modification sensor (Mierzejewska et al. 2014) for adenine methylation and an SRA domain sensor for cytosine hemi-(hydroxy)methylation, even in cases in which bioinformatic analysis suggested an unrelated domain for modification detection or was inconclusive (Kisiala et al. 2018; Kazrani et al. 2014). More recently, we discovered a novel domain (NEco) for cytosine methylation readout in both DNA strands that is unrelated to the previously implicated Zn2+ finger/MBD/MeCP2 domain family (Slyvka et al. 2019; Czapinska et al. 2018). We have also shown that PUA-superfamily domains other than SRA that were previously implicated in RNA binding are also naturally used for the binding of modified cytosines (Lutz et al. 2019).

 

In eukaryotes, active DNA demethylation can be reversed by up to three sequential hydroxylation reactions that convert 5mC into bases that resemble DNA damage. Such bases can then be excised and replaced by DNA repair machinery (Bochtler et al. 2017). We have shown that the hydroxylation system that was previously described in vertebrates is also present and functional in some invertebrates (Wojciechowski et al. 2014). Moreover, we have extensive (still unpublished) data that were obtained together with the groups of Tomasz Jurkowski and Tim Hore that suggest the strong sequence specificity of TET enzymes and crystal structures that explain this specificity. Finally, we have also worked on the base excision repair step of DNA demethylation and demonstrated cooperation (and mutual stimulation) between TDG and NEIL1, a bifunctional DNA glycosylase that was previously mostly implicated in the repair of oxidative DNA damage (Slyvka et al. 2017).

 

  • Bibliography
  1. Xu et al. Nat. Chem. 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41589-020-00675-5
  2. Kisiala et al. NAR. 2020. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaa403
  3. Lutz et al. NAR. 2019. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz755
  4. Slyvka et al. NAR. 2019. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz1017
  5. Kisiala et al. NAR. 2018. doi: 10.1093/nar/gky781
  6. Czapinska et al. NAR. 2018. doi: 10.1093/nar/gky731
  7. Mierzejewska et al. NAR. 2014. doi: 1093/nar/gku546
  8. Kazrani et al. NAR. 2014. doi: 10.1093/nar/gku186
  9. Wojciechowski et al. PNAS. 2013. doi: 1073/pnas.1207986110
  10. Siwek et al. NAR. 2012. doi: 10.1093/nar/gks428

Methodology

Much of our work involves classic protein biochemistry, combined with structural biology. In the past, this has meant primarily X-ray crystallography, but we are now also learning cryo-electron microscopy to routinely tackle larger protein complexes. In addition to our structural biology work, we have increasingly relied on various high-throughput sequencing methods for our research, often in combination with bisulfite sequencing to assess DNA modification status.

Selected Publications

  • Reversal of nucleobase methylation by dioxygenases. Xu G-L, Bochtler M. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41589-020-00675-5
  • Arrhenius-law-governed homo- and heteroduplex dissociation. Bochtler M. Phys. Rev. E. 2020. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.101.032405
  • Activity and structure of EcoKMcrA. Czapinska, H, Kowalska M, Zagorskaitė E, Manakova E, Slyvka A, Xu, Siksnys V, Sasnauskas G, Bochtler M. NAR. 2018, doi: 10.1093/nar/gky731
  • Crystal structure of the 5hmC specific endonuclease PvuRts1I. Kazrani A A, Kowalska M, Czapinska H, Bochtler M. NAR. 2014. doi: 10.1093/nar/gku186
  • CpG underrepresentation and the bacterial CpG-specific DNA methyltransferase M.MpeI. Wojciechowski M, Czapinska H, Bochtler M. PNAS. 2013. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1207986110

Collaborations

  • Tomasz Jurkowski, Cardiff University, United Kingdom
  • Tim Hore, Otaga University, New Zealand
  • Guoliang Xu, Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  • Jiemin Weng, Northeastern Normal University, China
  • Virginijus Siksnys, Vilnius University, Lithuania
  • Saulius Klimasauskas, Vilnius University, Lithuania
  • Albert Jeltsch, Stuttgart University, Germany

Publications (IBB PAS affiliated)

GALLAGHER J.M., YAMAK A., KIRILENKO P., BLACK S., BOCHTLER M., LEFEBVRE CH., NEMER M., LATINKIĆ B.V., Carboxy terminus of GATA4 transcription factor is required for its cardiogenic activity and interaction with CDK4. Mechanisms of Development (2014) 134: 31-41 IF 2.238
MIERZEJEWSKA K., SIWEK W., CZAPIŃSKA H., KAUS-DROBEK M., RADLIŃSKA M., SKOWRONEK K., BUJNICKI J.M., DADLEZ M., BOCHTLER M., Structural basis of the methylation specificity of R.DpnI. Nucleic Acids Research (2014) 42(13): 8745-8754 IF 8.808
SABAŁA I., JAGIELSKA E., BARDELANG P.T., CZAPIŃSKA H., DAHMS S.O., SHARPE J.A., JAMES R., THAN M.E., THOMAS N.R., BOCHTLER M., Crystal structure of the antimicrobial peptidase lysostaphin from Staphylococcus simulans. FEBS Journal (2014) 281(18): 4112-4122 IF 3.986
KAZRANI A.A., KOWALSKA M., CZAPIŃSKA H., BOCHTLER M., Crystal structure of the 5hmC specific endonuclease PvuRts1I. Nucleic Acids Research (2014) 42(9): 5929-5936 IF 8.808
JAREMKO M., JAREMKO L., NOWAKOWSKI M., WOJCIECHOWSKI M., SZCZEPANOWSKI R.H., PANECKA R., ZHUKOV I., BOCHTLER M., EJCHART A., NMR structural studies of the first catalytic half-domain of ubiquitin activating enzyme. Journal of Structural Biology (2014) 185(1): 69-78 IF 3.369
HANIEWICZ P., De SANCTIS D., BÜCHEL C., SCHRÖDER W.P., LOI M.C., KIESELBACH T., BOCHTLER M., PIANO D., Isolation of monomeric photosystem II that retains the subunit PsbS. Photosynthesis Research (2013) 118: 199–207 IF 3.150
WOJCIECHOWSKI M., CZAPIŃSKA H., BOCHTLER M., CpG underrepresentation and the bacterial CpG-specific DNA methyltransferase M.MpeI. PNAS-Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2013) 110(1): 105–110 IF 9.737
SABAŁA I., JONSSON I-M., TARKOWSKI A., BOCHTLER M., Anti-staphylococcal activities of lysostaphin and LytM catalytic domain. BMC Microbiology (2012) 12:97 (11p.) IF 3.044
SIWEK W., CZAPIŃSKA H., BOCHTLER M., BUJNICKI J.M., SKOWRONEK K., Crystal structure and mechanism of action of the N6-methyladenine-dependent type IIM restriction endonuclease R.DpnI. Nucleic Acids Research (2012) 40(15): 7563-7572 IF 8.026
CHOJNOWSKI G., BUJNICKI J.M., BOCHTLER M., RIBER/DIBER: a software suite for crystal content analysis in the studies of protein-nucleic acid complexes. Bioinformatics (2012) 28 (6): 880-881 IF 5.468
JAREMKO L., JAREMKO M., FILIPEK R., WOJCIECHOWSKI M., SZCZEPANOWSKI R.H., BOCHTLER M., ZHUKOV I., NMR assignment of a structurally uncharacterised fragment of recombinant mouse ubiquitin-activating enzyme. Journal of Biomolecular NMR (2006) 36: 43 IF 1,791
DANDANELL G., SZCZEPANOWSKI R.H., KIERDASZUK B., SHUGAR D., BOCHTLER M., Escherichia coli purine nucleoside phosphorylase II, the product of the xapA gene. Journal of Molecular Biology (2005) 348: 113-125 IF 4,89

Leader

MATTHIAS BOCHTLER, PhD, DSc, Prof.

  • PERSONAL BACKGROUND

My undergraduate training was in physics, which I studied at LMU Munich (Germany) and in Cambridge (UK). Towards the end of my studies, I first came in touch with structural biology when I listened to a lecture of my future PhD supervisor, Prof. Robert Huber, on the structure of an archaebacterial 20S proteasome that had just been solved in his lab. I was taken, but clearly unqualified to join the lab to work in this area. To my luck, a friend from childhood days, (now Prof.) Ralf Wagner came to my rescue and offered to give me some basic training in molecular biology in his laboratory (Regensburg, Germany) as an intern. With my newly acquired bio “expertise”, I proceeded to join the Huber laboratory to work on the proteasome and its model systems, as a PhD student and then a postdoc. I was then selected for a junior group leader position of the Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Dresden, Germany), to run an outstation at IIMCB (Warsaw, Poland), where I continued to work on peptidases and proteases. When my fixed-term Max-Planck society appointment ended, I moved as a group leader to Cardiff University (Wales, UK). This was early days of the CRISPR revolution, and my interests shifted to nucleic acid biology, particular DNA biology. Since my return to Warsaw in 2011, I have continued to work in this area. My laboratory now works on enzymes that shape the genome and epigenome. Our work ranges from the structural biology of individual enzymes that play a role in genome engineering and epigenome modifications to studies of whole organisms to monitor the actions of these enzymes in a physiological context.

  • AUTHOR IDENTIFIERS

ORCID: 0000-0001-7884-4463
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LzFGPhIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

  • SOCIAL MEDIA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthias-bochtler-784520b7/?originalSubdomain=pl
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matthias.bochtler.3

  • DEGREES

1995 – MSc in Experimental Physics, Munich University, Germany
1999 – PhD in Biochemistry, Technical University of Munich, Germany
2006 – DSc Habil in Biochemistry, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry PAS, Poznan, Poland
2009 – Belwedere Professor of Chemical Sciences

  • PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT/ EXPERIENCE

1996 – 1999 – Assistant at the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany
1999 – 2000 – Postdoc at the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany
2001 – 2010 – Head of a joint MPG-PAN Junior Research Group at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IIMCB) in Warsaw
2007 – 2011 – Group Leader in Structural Biology, Schools of Chemistry and Biosciences, Cardiff University
2011 – Professor, International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw, Poland and Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics PAS, Warsaw, Poland

  • PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

2013 – 2019 – LS1 Consolidator Grant member
2017 – FEBS J. Editorial Advisory Board member

  • AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

1990 – 1995 – Scholarship from the German scholarship foundation Studienstiftung
Scholarship from the State of Bavaria
Support for the year in Cambridge by the Rothschild Foundation
2004 – EMBO/HHMI Young Investigator Award
2005 – Warsaw University Pienkowski Award

  • DOCTORATES DEFENDED UNDER LAB LEADER’S SUPERVISION

Principal supervision: Grzegorz Chojnowski, Renata Filipek, Malgorzata Firczuk (Marcyjaniak), Patrycja Haniewicz, Asgar Abbas Kazrani, Monika Kowalska (Sokolowska), Magdalena Kaus-Drobek, Marlena Kisiala, Henryk Korza, Magdalena Lipka, Karolina Mierzejewska, Anna Piasecka (Fricke), Dominik Rafalski, Malgorzata Rzychon, Wojciech Siwek, Anton Slyvka, Roman Szczepanowski, Marek Wojciechowski

Team