The Basic Biology of Aging at the University of Washington
Mark Roth, Ph.D.

Biosketch Information
Email: mroth@fhcrc.org

The Roth laboratory has been working on several different areas of cell biology, including regulation of ribosome biogenesis, centromere structure and function, autoimmune disease, and oxygen sensing. For regulation of ribosome biogenesis, they had previously shown that a gene, ncl-1, is a repressor of ribosome biogenesis in C elegans. Recently they found that a homologue of ncl-1 in Drosophila is able to rescue nematodes containing a mutation in the ncl-1 gene and that mutations in the fly homologue cause brain tumors. Finally, they are interested in regulation of mitochondrial function. They recently found that C. elegans is able to survive in the absence of oxygen for as long as 24 hours. During this time, the organisms enter a state of suspension in which, microscopically, no observable life processes can be detected. They currently are examining changes that occur, to better understand this process.

The Roth Lab studies of centromeres are in C. elegans, which exhibits holocentric chromosomes during mitosis. These studies of autoimmune disease are focused on their recent publication that describes SR proteins as autoantigens in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Because mutations in the fly homologue can cause brain tumors, they are attempting to determine whether the mechanism of tumorogenesis is related to derepressed ribosome synthesis.

Dr. Roth is a Member, Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Affiliate Professor, Biochemistry, University of Washington.

Selected Relevant Publications
Neugebauer KM, Roth MB. Transcriptions units as RNA processing units. Genes Dev 11:3279-3285, 1997.

Stark JM, Bazett-Jones D, Herfort M, Roth MB. SR proteins are sufficient for exon bridging across an intron. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:2163-2168, 1998.

Stark JM, Cooper TA, Roth MB. The relative strengths of SR protein-mediated associations of alternative and constitutive exons can influence alternative splicing. J Biol Chem 274:29838-29842, 1999.

Tuma RS, Roth MB. Induction of coiled body biogenesis in Xenopus oocytes by U7 snRNA. Chromosoma 108:337-344, 1999.

Buchwitz BJ, Ahmad K, Moore LL, Roth MB, Henikoff S. A histone-H3-like protein in C. elegans. Nature 401:547- 548, 1999.

Moore LL, Roth MB. HCP-4, a CENP-C-like protein in Caenorhabditis elegans, is required for resolution of sister centromeres. J Cell Biol 153:1199-208, 2001.

Padilla PA, Roth MB. Oxygen deprivation causes suspended animation in the zebrafish embryo. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:7331-7335, 2001.

Frank DJ, Edgar BA, Roth MB. The drosophila melanogaster gene brain tumor negatively regulates cell growth and ribosomal RNA synthesis. Development 129:399-407, 2002.