| description: |
AIRE (Autoimmune regulator) is a transcriptional activator that is believed to control expression of many peripheral tissue-specific genes in the thymus. Mutated AIRE is responsible for onset of the hereditary disease autoimmune polyendocrinopathy candidiasis ectodermal dystrophy (APECED). The goal of this project is to elucidate molecular mechanisms of AIRE functioning. More specifically, we would like to study AIRE transcriptional transactivation characteristics, to determine whether AIRE can bind to the nucleosomes and chromatin, to examine AIRE ability to cause epigenetic changes, to study the connection between AIRE bodies and its function. We expect that functional studies on AIRE protein will help to clarify reasons for autoimmunity and give valuable information about the gene expression regulation. |