Alicia María Muro Pastor

Alicia Maria Muro Pastor

ORCID: 0000-0003-2503-6336

Group: Regulatory RNAs in cyanobacteria

Position: Científica Titular CSIC/Tenured Scientist

Contact:

Office:  DS 116

Phone: ext. 446021

Email:

Formation

Degree on Biological Sciences, Universidad de Sevilla, 1987

PhD on Biological Sciences, Universidad de Sevilla, 1992

Postdoctoral Research at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA 1993-1995

 

Research Interests

My research interests deal with the participation of non-coding RNAs in the regulation of bacterial physiology. Our experimental model, Nostoc sp. PCC 7120, is a filamentous cyanobacterium that, under nitrogen limitation is able to differentiate certain cells to become specialized in nitrogen fixation, while the rest of the cells carry out the photosynthetic assimilation of CO2. This “division of labor” relies on the operation of different, but simultaneous, gene expression programs and involves the expression of nitrogen-regulated non-coding RNAs that contribute to regulation at the post-trancriptional level. Our work deals with the discovery of regulatory mechanisms orchestrated by non-coding RNAs, both small RNAs and antisense RNAs.

Grant number PID2022-138128NB-I00 (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, FEDER, UE), 2023-2026

Publications

Álvarez-Escribano I, Suárez-Murillo B, Brenes-Álvarez M, Vioque A, Muro-Pastor AM. Antisense RNA regulates glutamine synthetase in a heterocyst-forming cyanobacterium. Plant Physiol. 2024 Jul 31;195(4):2911-2920. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiae263
Brenes-Álvarez M, Olmedo-Verd E, Vioque A, Muro-Pastor AM. A nitrogen stress-inducible small RNA regulates CO2 fixation in Nostoc. Plant Physiol. 2021 Oct 5;187(2):787-798. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiab309
Brenes-Álvarez M, Mitschke J, Olmedo-Verd E, Georg J, Hess WR, Vioque A, Muro-Pastor AM. Elements of the heterocyst-specific transcriptome unravelled by co-expression analysis in Nostoc sp. PCC 7120. Environ Microbiol. 2019 Jul;21(7):2544-2558. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14647
Muro-Pastor AM, Hess WR. Heterocyst differentiation: from single mutants to global approaches. Trends Microbiol. 2012 Nov;20(11):548-557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2012.07.005
Mitschke J, Vioque A, Hass F, Hess WR, Muro-Pastor AM. Dynamics of transcriptional start site selection during nitrogen stress-induced cell differentiation in Anabaena sp. PCC7120. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Dec 13;108(50):20130-5. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1112724108
 
 
 
 
 
 
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