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Marlene Belfort

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Marlene Belfort
Born1945
EducationUniversity of Cape Town, University of California, Irvine
Known forResearch on the factors that interrupt genes and proteins
AwardsAlice C. Evans Award of the American Society for Microbiology; Mid-career Leadership Award of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Lifetime Achievement in Science Award of the RNA Society
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry, microbiology
InstitutionsHebrew University of Jerusalem, Northwestern University, SUNY at Albany
ThesisInvolvement of bacterial genotype in bacteriophage lambda's decision between lysogeny and lysis (1972)
Doctoral advisorDan Wulff

Marlene Belfort (born 1945) is an American biochemist known for her research on the factors that interrupt genes and proteins. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been admitted to the United States National Academy of Sciences.

Education and career

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Belfort was one of the first undergraduate women to study microbiology at the University of Cape Town where she received her bachelor's degree in 1965 and an earned an honors degree in physiological chemistry in 1966.[1] She went on to earn her Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine in 1972[2] and did postdoctoral research at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem and Northwestern University.[3] As of 2021, she is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Sciences at SUNY at Albany and the RNA Institute.[4][3]

Research

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Belfort's early research was on a gene involved in thymidylate synthase in the bacteria Escherichia coli.[5][6] and its T4 phage.[7] She subsequently found a bacterial structural gene in this virus, which was the first example of a intron-containing prokaryotic structural gene.[8] Prior to her research, this junk DNA was only known to occur in more complex organisms.[1] Her research then determined that the gene of the T4 phage was processed by RNA in a mechanism known as splicing[9][10] and was excised from the transcript during processing in the cell,[11] and led to the observation that the processing of the T4 phage RNA is similar to the splicing pathway used by eukaryotes[12][13] Her work subsequently showed that the introns move to different places within a bacterial genome[14][15] and she was able to determine the mechanism guiding this movement of genetic material.[16][17] Her most recent research also includes self-cleaving inteins, which are protein-splicing elements.[18][19] Because inteins are sometimes found in essential proteins, her group is exploring whether inhibitors of intein splicing could be used as anti-fungal drugs.[20] Belfort has also collaborated with Joachim Frank, a 2017 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry,[21] in studying three-dimensional images of group II introns[22][23]

Selected publications

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  • Lambowitz, Alan M.; Belfort, Marlene (1993-06-01). "Introns as mobile genetic elements". Annual Review of Biochemistry. 62 (1): 587–622. doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.62.070193.003103. ISSN 0066-4154. PMID 8352597.
  • Belfort, M (1997-09-01). "Homing endonucleases: keeping the house in order". Nucleic Acids Research. 25 (17): 3379–3388. doi:10.1093/nar/25.17.3379. ISSN 1362-4962. PMC 146926. PMID 9254693.
  • Roberts, R. J. (2003-04-01). "A nomenclature for restriction enzymes, DNA methyltransferases, homing endonucleases and their genes". Nucleic Acids Research. 31 (7): 1805–1812. doi:10.1093/nar/gkg274. PMC 152790. PMID 12654995.

Awards

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Personal life

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In 1967 Belfort married Georges Belfort.[32] Between 1970 and 1976 the Belfort's welcomed three sons.[33] In her spare time she enjoys writing and knitting.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Her South African Alma Mater from the Days of Apartheid Honors Marlene Belfort - University at Albany-SUNY". www.albany.edu. January 21, 2020. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  2. ^ Belfort, Marlene (1973). Involvement of bacterial genotype in bacteriophage lambda's decision between lysogeny and lysis (Thesis). Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms. OCLC 5455267.
  3. ^ a b "Marlene Belfort | The Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering". cbe.rpi.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  4. ^ "Marlene Belfort: Stellar Researcher and Mentor - University at Albany-SUNY". www.albany.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  5. ^ Belfort, M.; Maley, G.; Pedersen-Lane, J.; Maley, F. (1983-08-01). "Primary structure of the Escherichia coli thyA gene and its thymidylate synthase product". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 80 (16): 4914–4918. Bibcode:1983PNAS...80.4914B. doi:10.1073/pnas.80.16.4914. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 384157. PMID 6308660.
  6. ^ Belfort, M.; Maley, G. F.; Maley, F. (1983-04-01). "Characterization of the Escherichia coli thyA gene and its amplified thymidylate synthetase product". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 80 (7): 1858–1861. Bibcode:1983PNAS...80.1858B. doi:10.1073/pnas.80.7.1858. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 393709. PMID 6340111.
  7. ^ Chu, F. K.; Maley, G. F.; Maley, F.; Belfort, M. (1984-05-01). "Intervening sequence in the thymidylate synthase gene of bacteriophage T4". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 81 (10): 3049–3053. Bibcode:1984PNAS...81.3049C. doi:10.1073/pnas.81.10.3049. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 345218. PMID 6328492.
  8. ^ Belfort, M; Pedersenlane, J; West, D; Ehrenman, K; Maley, G; Chu, F; Maley, F (1985). "Processing of the intron-containing thymidylate synthase (td) gene of phage T4 is at the RNA level". Cell. 41 (2): 375–382. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(85)80010-6. PMID 3986907. S2CID 27127017.
  9. ^ BELFORT, M; PEDERSENLANE, J; WEST, D; EHRENMAN, K; MALEY, G; CHU, F; MALEY, F (1985). "Processing of the intron-containing thymidylate synthase (td) gene of phage T4 is at the RNA level". Cell. 41 (2): 375–382. doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(85)80010-6. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 3986907. S2CID 27127017.
  10. ^ Belfort, Marlene; Weiner, Alan (1997). "Another Bridge between Kingdoms: tRNA Splicing in Archaea and Eukaryotes". Cell. 89 (7): 1003–1006. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80287-1. PMID 9215622. S2CID 16611946.
  11. ^ Chu, Frederick K.; Maley, Gladys F.; West, Deborah K.; Belfort, Marlene; Maley, Frank (1986). "Characterization of the intron in the phage T4 thymidylate synthase gene and evidence for its self-excision from the primary transcript". Cell. 45 (2): 157–166. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(86)90379-x. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 3698096. S2CID 938805.
  12. ^ Shub, D. A.; Gott, J. M.; Xu, M. Q.; Lang, B. F.; Michel, F.; Tomaschewski, J.; Pedersen-Lane, J.; Belfort, M. (1988-02-01). "Structural conservation among three homologous introns of bacteriophage T4 and the group I introns of eukaryotes". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 85 (4): 1151–1155. Bibcode:1988PNAS...85.1151S. doi:10.1073/pnas.85.4.1151. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 279724. PMID 3422485.
  13. ^ Ehrenman, K.; Pedersen-Lane, J.; West, D.; Herman, R.; Maley, F.; Belfort, M. (1986-08-01). "Processing of phage T4 td-encoded RNA is analogous to the eukaryotic group I splicing pathway". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 83 (16): 5875–5879. Bibcode:1986PNAS...83.5875E. doi:10.1073/pnas.83.16.5875. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 386399. PMID 3526343.
  14. ^ Lambowitz, Alan M.; Belfort, Marlene (1993). "Introns as Mobile Genetic Elements". Annual Review of Biochemistry. 62 (1): 587–622. doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.62.070193.003103. ISSN 0066-4154. PMID 8352597.
  15. ^ Bryk, Mary; Belfort, Marlene (1990). "Spontaneous shuffling of domains between introns of phage T4". Nature. 346 (6282): 394–396. Bibcode:1990Natur.346..394B. doi:10.1038/346394a0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 2197562. S2CID 4365330.
  16. ^ Belfort, Marlene; Perlman, Philip S. (1995). "Mechanisms of Intron Mobility". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 270 (51): 30237–30240. doi:10.1074/jbc.270.51.30237. PMID 8530436.
  17. ^ Coetzee, T; Herschlag, D; Belfort, M (1994-07-01). "Escherichia coli proteins, including ribosomal protein S12, facilitate in vitro splicing of phage T4 introns by acting as RNA chaperones". Genes & Development. 8 (13): 1575–1588. doi:10.1101/gad.8.13.1575. ISSN 0890-9369. PMID 7958841.
  18. ^ Wood, David W.; Wu, Wei; Belfort, Georges; Derbyshire, Victoria; Belfort, Marlene (1999). "A genetic system yields self-cleaving inteins for bioseparations". Nature Biotechnology. 17 (9): 889–892. doi:10.1038/12879. ISSN 1087-0156. PMID 10471931. S2CID 13247413.
  19. ^ Novikova, Olga; Topilina, Natalya; Belfort, Marlene (2014). "Enigmatic Distribution, Evolution, and Function of Inteins". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 289 (21): 14490–14497. doi:10.1074/jbc.R114.548255. PMC 4031506. PMID 24695741.
  20. ^ Li, Zhong; Tharappel, Anil Mathew; Xu, Jimin; Lang, Yuekun; Green, Cathleen M.; Zhang, Jing; Lin, Qishan; Chaturvedi, Sudha; Zhou, Jia; Belfort, Marlene; Li, Hongmin (2021-01-12). "Small-molecule inhibitors for the Prp8 intein as antifungal agents". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 118 (2): e2008815118. Bibcode:2021PNAS..11808815L. doi:10.1073/pnas.2008815118. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 7812778. PMID 33397721.
  21. ^ "Congratulations to a Nobel Prize winner". www.rfsuny.org. 2017. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  22. ^ Slagter-Jäger, Jacoba G.; Allen, Gregory S.; Smith, Dorie; Hahn, Ingrid A.; Frank, Joachim; Belfort, Marlene (2006-06-27). "Visualization of a group II intron in the 23S rRNA of a stable ribosome". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (26): 9838–9843. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.9838S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0603956103. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 1502540. PMID 16785426.
  23. ^ Huang, Tao; Shaikh, Tanvir R.; Gupta, Kushol; Contreras-Martin, Lydia M.; Grassucci, Robert A.; Van Duyne, Gregory D.; Frank, Joachim; Belfort, Marlene (2010-12-03). "The group II intron ribonucleoprotein precursor is a large, loosely packed structure". Nucleic Acids Research. 39 (7): 2845–2854. doi:10.1093/nar/gkq1202. ISSN 1362-4962. PMC 3074136. PMID 21131279.
  24. ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  25. ^ "Marlene Belfort". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  26. ^ "The 2000 Excellence Awards". www.albany.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  27. ^ "Past ASM Awardees: ASM Alice C. Evans Award for Advancement of Women" (PDF). June 1, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  28. ^ "SUNY Distinguished Academy". 2022.
  29. ^ Krige, Nadia (December 17, 2019). "'We live in an age where women no longer need to lose out'". www.news.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  30. ^ "ASBMB names 2022 award winners". www.asbmb.org. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  31. ^ "2023 RNA Society Lifetime Achievement in Science Award Winner". www.rnasociety.org. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  32. ^ Grondahl, Paul (2020-02-25). "Grondahl: From South Africa's Cape Town, an improbable journey". Times Union. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  33. ^ "Belfort strikes the right balance". www.asbmb.org. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
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