Scholars

Sachs, Matthew

Professor

Positions:

Professor, Biology, College of Arts and Sciences

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Profile Summary

msachs@tamu.edu

1 979 845 5930

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overview

Understanding the mechanisms by which upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in mRNA transcripts control gene expression is currently the major focus of my laboratory. A substantial component of this work is focused on the uORF-encoded fungal arginine attenuator peptide (AAP). The major goal of this work is to understand the mechanism by which a nascent peptide encoded by this uORF controls the movement of ribosomes on mRNA and regulates gene expression. Control mechanisms mediated by uORFs and nascent peptides exist in mammals, fungi, plants, viruses, and bacteria, but relatively little is known of the molecular details of such control. The AAP is encoded by a uORF in the 5?-leader regions of mRNAs specifying the first enzyme in fungal arginine (Arg) biosynthesis. Synthesis of the AAP rapidly reduces gene expression in response to Arg. AAP-mediated regulation is observed in vivo in both Neurospora crassa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in vitro, using fungal, plant and animal extracts. The nascent AAP causes the ribosome to stall when the concentration of Arg is high.

education and training

Stanford University - (Stanford, California, United States), Postdoctoral Training 1990
Ph.D. in Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - (Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States) 1986
A.B. in Biochemistry, Cornell University - (Ithaca, New York, United States) 1979

selected publications

Academic Articles78

Breuer, M. R., Dasgupta, A., Vasselli, J. G., Lin, X., Shaw, B. D., & Sachs, M. S. (2022). The Antidepressant Sertraline Induces the Formation of Supersized Lipid Droplets in the Human Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.. J Fungi (Basel). 8(6), 642-642.
Zgadzay, Y., Kolosova, O., Stetsenko, A., Wu, C., Bruchlen, D., Usachev, K., ... Yusupov, M. (2022). E-site drug specificity of the human pathogen Candida albicans ribosome.. Sci Adv. 8(21), eabn1062.
Shen, L., Su, Z., Yang, K., Wu, C., Becker, T., Bell-Pedersen, D., Zhang, J., & Sachs, M. S. (2021). Structure of the translating Neurospora ribosome arrested by cycloheximide.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 118(48), e2111862118.
van der Stel, A., Gordon, E. R., Sengupta, A., Martínez, A. K., Klepacki, D., Perry, T. N., ... Innis, C. A. (2021). Structural basis for the tryptophan sensitivity of TnaC-mediated ribosome stalling.. Nat Commun. 12(1), 5340.
Karki, S., Castillo, K., Ding, Z., Kerr, O., Lamb, T. M., Wu, C., Sachs, M. S., & Bell-Pedersen, D. (2020). Circadian clock control of eIF2 phosphorylation is necessary for rhythmic translation initiation.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 117(20), 10935-10945.

Books3

Hood, H. M., Neafsey, D. E., Galagan, J., & Sachs, M. S. (2009). Evolutionary roles of upstream open reading frames in mediating gene regulation in fungi.. Annual Reviews.
Dunlap, J. C., Borkovich, K. A., Henn, M. R., Turner, G. E., Sachs, M. S., Glass, N. L., ... Xu, J. (2007). Enabling a community to dissect an organism: overview of the Neurospora functional genomics project.. Elsevier.
Wu, C., Amrani, N., Jacobson, A., & Sachs, M. S. (2007). The use of fungal in vitro systems for studying translational regulation.. Elsevier.

Chapters7

Dever, T. E., Ivanov, I. P., & Sachs, M. S. (2020). Conserved Upstream Open Reading Frame Nascent Peptides That Control Translation.. Annual Review of Genetics. ANNUAL REVIEW OF GENETICS, VOL 54, 2020. 237-264. Annual Reviews.
Perkins, D. D., Radford, A., & Sachs, M. S. (2001). Information on Individual Loci. The Neurospora Compendium. 7-197. Elsevier.
Perkins, D. D., Radford, A., & Sachs, M. S. (2001). Introduction. The Neurospora Compendium. 1-6. Elsevier.
Perkins, D., Radford, A., & Sachs, M. (2001). Preface. The Neurospora Compendium. vii-vii. Elsevier.
Schroeder, A. L., Inoue, H., & Sachs, M. S. (1998). DNA Repair in Neurospora. DNA Damage and Repair. 503-538. Springer Nature.