Paul Babitzke

Paul Babitzke
Alma mater	St. Cloud State University
Scientific career
Fields	Molecular biology
Institutions	Pennsylvania State University

Paul Babitzke is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and director of the Center for RNA Molecular Biology at Pennsylvania State University. ^{[1] [2]}

Education

Paul Babitzke obtained his B.A. in biomedical science from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota in 1994. ^[3] He earned his Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Georgia in 1991. ^[1]

Career

Before he started at Penn State University in 1994, Babitzke worked as a postdoctoral scientist at Stanford University's department of biological sciences for 3 years. ^[3] Currently, he is professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State. ^[1]

He became an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in 1994 and associate professor in 2000. In 2006, Babitzke was promoted to full professor. ^[4]

Since 2009, he has been serving as director of the Center for RNA Molecular Biology in the Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. ^[5] His research focuses on the regulation of gene expression mediated by RNA polymerase pausing, transcription termination, RNA structure, and RNA-binding proteins.

In 2016, he was elected as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. ^[1]

In 2017, he was elected as Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. ^[1]

Honors and awards

• Chair, Division H, American Society for Microbiology (ASM) (2006) ^[3]
• Chair, NIGMS Microbial Physiology and Genetics-subcommittee 2 (MBC-2) (2004) ^[3]
• Daniel R. Tershak Teaching Award (2009) ^[3]
• Divisional Group IV Representative, American Society for Microbiology (ASM) (2011-2015) ^[3]
• Charles E. Kaufman New Initiative Research Award (2016) ^[3]
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2016) ^[6]
• Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) (2017) ^[3]
• St. Cloud State University Biological Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award (2018) ^[3]

Selected publications

• Baker, C.S., Morozov, I., Suzuki, K., Romeo, T., and Babitzke, P. (2002) CsrA regulates glycogen biosynthesis by preventing translation of glgC in Escherichia coli. Mol. Microbiol. 44:1599-1610. ^[7]
• Yakhnin, A.V., and Babitzke, P. (2002) NusA-stimulated RNA polymerase pausing and termination participates in the Bacillus subtilis trp operon attenuation mechanism in vitro. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 99:11067-11072. ^[8]
• Yakhnin, A.V., Yakhnin, H., and Babitzke, P. (2006) RNA polymerase pausing participates in the Bacillus subtilis trpE translation control mechanism by providing additional time for TRAP to bind to the nascent trp leader transcript. Mol. Cell 24:547-557. ^[9]
• Yakhnin, A.V., Yakhnin, H., and Babitzke, P. (2008) Function of the Bacillus subtilis transcription elongation factor NusG in hairpin-dependent RNA polymerase pausing in the trp leader. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105:16131-16136. ^[10]
• Yakhnin, H., Yakhnin, A.V., Baker, C.S., Sineva, E., Berezin, I., Romeo, T., and Babitzke, P. (2011) Complex regulation of the global regulatory gene csrA: CsrA-mediated translational repression, transcription from five promoters by Es⁷⁰ and Es^S, and indirect transcriptional activation by CsrA. Mol. Microbiol. 81:689-704. ^[11]
• Yakhnin, A.V., Baker, C.S., Vakulskas, C.A., Yakhnin, H., Berezin, I., Romeo, T., and Babitzke, P. (2013) CsrA activates flhDC expression by protecting flhDC mRNA from RNase E-mediated cleavage. Mol. Microbiol. 87:851-866. ^[12]
• Mondal, S., Yakhnin, A.V., Sebastian, A., Albert, I., and Babitzke, P. (2016) NusA-dependent transcription termination prevents misregulation of global gene expression. Nat. Microbiol. 1:15007. ^[13]
• Potts, A.H., Vakulskas, C.A., Pannuri, A., Yakhnin, H., Babitzke, P., and Romeo, T. (2017) Global role of the bacterial post-transcriptional regulator CsrA revealed by integrated transcriptomics. Nat. Commun. 8:1596. ^[14]
• Yakhnin, A.V., FitzGerald, P.C., McIntosh, C., Yakhnin, H., Kireeva, M., Turek-Herman, J., Mandell, Z.F., Kashlev, M., and Babitzke, P. (2020) NusG controls transcription pausing and RNA polymerase translocation throughout the Bacillus subtilis genome. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 117:21628-21636. ^[15]
• Mandell, Z.F., Oshiro, R.T., Yakhnin, A.V., Kashlev, M., Kearns, D.B., and Babitzke, P. (2021) NusG is an intrinsic transcription termination factor that stimulates motility and coordinates gene expression with NusA. eLife 10:e61880. ^[16]

References

1. "Paul Babitzke elected as Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology". psu.edu. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
2. "Paul Babitzke". psu.edu. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
3. "Paul Babitzke - Eberly College of Science". science.psu.edu. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
4. "Lab Alumni". sites.psu.edu. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
5. "Paul Babitzke". www.huck.psu.edu. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
6. "Professor Brian Thomas - Personal Psu - Penn State". www.personal.psu.edu. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
7. Baker, Carol S.; Morozov, Igor; Suzuki, Kazushi; Romeo, Tony; Babitzke, Paul (June 2002). "CsrA regulates glycogen biosynthesis by preventing translation of glgC in Escherichia coli". Molecular Microbiology. 44 (6): 1599–1610. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2958.2002.02982.x. ISSN   0950-382X. PMID   12067347. S2CID   34798274.
8. Yakhnin, Alexander V.; Babitzke, Paul (2002-08-20). "NusA-stimulated RNA polymerase pausing and termination participates in the Bacillus subtilis trp operon attenuation mechanism in vitro". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 99 (17): 11067–11072. Bibcode:2002PNAS...9911067Y. doi: 10.1073/pnas.162373299 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   123211 . PMID   12161562.
9. Yakhnin, Alexander V.; Yakhnin, Helen; Babitzke, Paul (2006-11-17). "RNA polymerase pausing regulates translation initiation by providing additional time for TRAP-RNA interaction". Molecular Cell. 24 (4): 547–557. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2006.09.018 . ISSN   1097-2765. PMID   17114058.
10. Yakhnin, Alexander V.; Yakhnin, Helen; Babitzke, Paul (2008-10-21). "Function of the Bacillus subtilis transcription elongation factor NusG in hairpin-dependent RNA polymerase pausing in the trp leader". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (42): 16131–16136. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10516131Y. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0808842105 . ISSN   1091-6490. PMC   2571025 . PMID   18852477.
11. Yakhnin, Helen; Yakhnin, Alexander V.; Baker, Carol S.; Sineva, Elena; Berezin, Igor; Romeo, Tony; Babitzke, Paul (August 2011). "Complex regulation of the global regulatory gene csrA: CsrA-mediated translational repression, transcription from five promoters by Eσ⁷⁰ and Eσ(S), and indirect transcriptional activation by CsrA". Molecular Microbiology. 81 (3): 689–704. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2011.07723.x. ISSN   1365-2958. PMC   3189700 . PMID   21696456.
12. Yakhnin, Alexander V.; Baker, Carol S.; Vakulskas, Christopher A.; Yakhnin, Helen; Berezin, Igor; Romeo, Tony; Babitzke, Paul (February 2013). "CsrA activates flhDC expression by protecting flhDC mRNA from RNase E-mediated cleavage". Molecular Microbiology. 87 (4): 851–866. doi:10.1111/mmi.12136. ISSN   0950-382X. PMC   3567230 . PMID   23305111.
13. Mondal, Smarajit; Yakhnin, Alexander V.; Sebastian, Aswathy; Albert, Istvan; Babitzke, Paul (2016-01-11). "NusA-dependent transcription termination prevents misregulation of global gene expression". Nature Microbiology. 1 15007. doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2015.7. ISSN   2058-5276. PMC   5358096 . PMID   27571753.
14. Potts, Anastasia H.; Vakulskas, Christopher A.; Pannuri, Archana; Yakhnin, Helen; Babitzke, Paul; Romeo, Tony (2017-11-17). "Global role of the bacterial post-transcriptional regulator CsrA revealed by integrated transcriptomics". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 1596. Bibcode:2017NatCo...8.1596P. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01613-1. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   5694010 . PMID   29150605.
15. Yakhnin, A. V.; Fitzgerald, P. C.; McIntosh, C.; Yakhnin, H.; Kireeva, M.; Turek-Herman, J.; Mandell, Z. F.; Kashlev, M.; Babitzke, P. (2020). "Europe PMC". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 117 (35): 21628–21636. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2006873117 . PMC   7474616 . PMID   32817529.
16. Mandell, Zachary F.; Oshiro, Reid T.; Yakhnin, Alexander V.; Vishwakarma, Rishi; Kashlev, Mikhail; Kearns, Daniel B.; Babitzke, Paul (2021-04-09). "NusG is an intrinsic transcription termination factor that stimulates motility and coordinates gene expression with NusA". eLife. 10. doi: 10.7554/eLife.61880 . PMC   8060035 . PMID   33835023.