Irwin Davidson. Principal Investigator 
University of Strasbourg. Website
Institute de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire. 1 Rue Laurent Fries, 67404, Illkirch, France
Reseach subject
Regulation of gene expression in cancer and disease.
Summary
My group has worked for more than 20 years on the regulation of gene expression and published more than 140 peer reviewed articles and reviews. Our work has focussed on the organisation and function of the RNA polymerase II general transcription factor TFIID. We currently study the function of the TAF4 and TAF4b subunits using somatic recombination in the mouse, and in particular their roles as cofactors for HNF4A in the regulation of metabolic gene expression. The second major theme of the group is the epigenetic regulation of gene expression in malignant melanoma. We study the role of transcription factors MITF and SOX10 that use the chromatin remodelling complexes PBAF, NuRF and NuRD to regulate gene expression and melanoma progression. We use combinations of biochemical, functional genomics and genetic approaches in cellular and animal models to address these questions.
Publications
- Herquel B, Ouararhni K, Martianov I, Le Gras S, Ye T, Keime C, Lerouge T, Jost B, Cammas F, Losson R, and Davidson, I. (2013). Trim24 repressed VL30 retrotransposons regulate gene expression by producing noncoding RNA. Nat. Struc. Mol. Biol. Mar;20(3):339-46. Article highlighted in the monthly CNRS magazine (March-April 2013) and subject of an article in Biofutur.
- Alpern, D, Langer, D, Ballester, B, Le Gras, S, Romier, C, Mengus, G, and Davidson, I. (2014). TAF4, a subunit of transcription factor II D, directs promoter occupancy of nuclear receptor HNF4A during post-natal hepatocyte differentiation. ELife, Sep 10;3. doi: 10.7554/eLife.03613.
- Laurette P, Strub T, Koludrovic D, Keime C, Le Gras S, Seberg H, Van Otterloo E, Imrichova H, Siddaway R, Aerts S, Cornell RA, Mengus G, Davidson I. (2015). Transcription factor MITF and remodeller BRG1 define chromatin organisation at regulatory elements in melanoma cells. Elife. Mar 24;4. doi: 10.7554/eLife.06857.
- Koludrovic D., Laurette P., Strub T., Keime C., Le Coz M., Coassolo S., Mengus G., Larue L., and Davidson I. Chromatin-remodelling complex NURF is essential for differentiation of adult melanocyte stem cells. PLoS Genet. 2015 Oct 6;11(10):e1005555. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005555. News and Views: Welsh, SJ and Rizos, H. Melanocyte reprogramming requires chromatin remodelling. Pigment Cell Mel. Res. May; 29(3):260-1.
- Langer D., Alpern D., Rhinn M., Martianov I., Keime C., Dollé P., Mengus G., and Davidson I. (2016). Essential role of the TFIID subunit TAF4 in murine embryogenesis and embryonic stem cell differentiation. Nature Communications. Mar 30;7:11063. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11063.