THE PROJECT
Belgium research has a longstanding tradition and strong track record in organellar research. Christian de Duve, a Belgian cell biologist, discovered two cellular organelles (lysosomes and peroxisomes), for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974 with Albert Claude (Belgian) and George Palade (Romania). Having worked at the border of biochemistry and cell biology, de Duve insisted on the importance of collaborative work and highly valued interdisciplinary research.
Hundred years after his day of birth, four Belgian labs have teamed up with an American lab to form the ReACTs consortium. We tackle the organellar communication within the plant cell. We focus on thiol-based redox-sensing proteins within signaling circuits between plant organelles (chloroplasts and mitochondria) and the nucleus.
For this project, we take a bold ab initio approach without constraints in order to discover new important cysteine sites on proteins, not only focusing on specific transcription factors, but by building on the technology that was developed within the ReACTs consortium. By going beyond our paved landscaping paths and by combining new trapping and interaction technologies with structural and functional studies, we will not only pinpoint, but also scrutinize the kinetic privilege of cysteine sites as stress sensors.
FRANK VAN BREUSEGEM
Prof. Dr. Frank Van Breusegem is since 2001 group leader of the Oxidative Stress Signaling group at the VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology and professor at Ghent University.
Since his early studies under the supervision of Prof. Marc Van Montagu, he focuses on the molecular impact of oxidative stress on plant cells. He obtained his PhD from Ghent University (Ghent, 1997) with work on “Engineering Stress Tolerance in Maize”.
Nowadays, the primary objective of the Van Breusegem lab is still the identification and functional analysis of regulatory gene and protein networks involved in the oxidative stress response in plants. Ultimately, he aims to translate this knowledge into biotechnological crop efficiency concepts. The lab has played a pioneering role in determining transcriptome based networks in the H2O2 response in plants.
The Van Breusegem lab is internationally recognized mainly because of its successful multi-omics driven approaches that allowed to identify some key players in the oxidative stress response.
DIDIER VERTOMMEN
Dr. Didier Vertommen is since 2007 responsible for the proteomic and protein analysis by mass spectrometry platform of the Université Catholique de Louvain (MASSPROT). In 2014 he was appointed as a permanent research associate of the de Duve Institute.
He obtained his PhD in biochemistry from the UCL (1997) with "Structure/function work on the bifunctional enzyme PFK2/FBPase2". During his post-doc at the KUL he became interested in mass spectrometry and acquired a renowned expertise in protein phosphorylation sites identification.
He’s now actively involved with the Joris Messens (VUB) and Jean-Francois Collet (UCL) groups in the development of redox proteomics strategies to study oxidative protein folding and oxidative stress defense mechanisms. Didier is a founding member of the Belgian Proteomics Association (BePA).
THE CONSORTIUM
CLAIRE REMACLE
Prof. Dr. Claire Remacle is since 2003 group leader of the Genetics and Physiology of Microalgae lab and full professor since 2015, at the University of Liège.
She obtained her PhD on mitochondrial DNA transmission in the green microalgae Chlamydomonas in 1993 (R.F. Matagne as supervisor), and then moved to Strasbourg for a 2 years postdoc at the Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes (IBMP) where she worked on the biology of mitochondrial tRNAs in land plants, under the direction of L. Maréchal-Drouard, with an EMBO long-term fellowship. Back in Liège in 1996, she became Research Associate from FNRS in 1998, and assistant professor in 2003.
She is internationally recognized for her expertise in genetics and physiology of organelles in microalgae and as such has coordinated a European project ‘Sunbiopath’, involving 11 research group.
In EOS-ReACTs project, Claire will contribute her expertise on fundamental research on chloroplast and mitochondria of microalgae.
JORIS MESSENS
Prof. Dr. Joris Messens is group leader of the Redox Signaling lab within Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) and professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
After several years in Biotech-industry as a Master of Sciences in Biochemistry, he became an expert in protein purification. He obtained his PhD from the John Moores University of Liverpool (UK, 2003) with "Structural and functional work on arsenate reductase from Staphyloccocus aureus". He is author or co-author of more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, most of which focus on thiol-disulfide exchange mechanisms.
Joris Messens is frequently invited as speaker, session leader, chair and co-chair on international meetings, like GRC, ESF, EMBO, and he is member of the reviewing board for the DFG priority program 'Dynamics of thiol-based switches in cellular physiology'.
KATE CARROLL
Dr. Kate S. Carroll is an Associate Professor with Tenure in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida.
She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford University in 2003. Her postdoctoral work was completed at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Fund Fellow with Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi.
Her laboratory has an established record of attacking fundamental problems in redox biology through a powerful, interdisciplinary approach that integrates synthetic chemistry with proteomics, biochemistry, and cell biology. The overarching goal of her research program is to understand the biological chemistry and molecular mechanisms of cellular redox regulation and signaling with emphasis on the role of cysteine oxidation, a ubiquitous and conserved mechanism for controlling protein function.
Her group developed the first cell-permeable small-molecule probes to selectively detect protein S-sulfenylation–the direct reaction product between a cysteine thiolate and H2O2–in living cells and tissues. These novel chemical tools represent ‘game-changing’ technology, enabling detection of cysteine oxidation in situ, which previous methods could not attain. Consequently, there is a real expectation of learning meaningful new principles by which biological systems are regulated by changes in cellular H2O2 levels. In recognition her scientific achievements, Dr. Carroll was awarded the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, one of the highest honors bestowed by ACS in 2013.
EOS-ReACTs is a joint project carried out between the research groups of
Claire Remacle, from Université de Liège, Belgium
Frank Van Breusegem, from Universiteit Gent, Belgium
Joris Messens, from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Didier Vertommen, from Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Kate S. Carroll, from the Scripps Research Institute, Florida, USA
This project integrates the expertise from diverse research domains into a cohesive team.
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Claire Remacle's expertise is fundamental research on chloroplast and mitochondria of microalgae.
Frank Van Breusegem's expertise is oxidative stress signaling in plants, mitochondrial retrograding signaling.
Joris Messens's expertise is biochemical characterization and structural analysis of proteins to understand thiol-disulfide exchange mechanisms.
Didier Vertommen's expertise is in the use of mass spectrometry and proteomics to identify and study post-translational protein modifications in mechanisms controlling cell function.
Kate S. Carroll's expertise is in solving fundamental and applied questions in redox biology using an interdisciplinary approach, which integrates synthetic chemistry and biology.
ABOUT ReACTs
ReACTs
Retrograde Arabidopsis Chlamydomonas Thiol signaling
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Organellar Redox Signaling in Plants
