In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Peter Becker from the Biomedical Center Munich about his successful career in Epigenetics, where he discovered the chromatin remodeler ISWI and dosage compensation complex MOF.

Dr. Becker shares thoughts about his postdoctoral work with Carl Wu, where he developed embryo extract systems for studying chromatin assembly and transcription. He explains how work on Drosophila extracts led to the purification of ATP-dependent remodeling factors, including ISWI-related complexes, and how these studies showed that such factors slide nucleosomes and help organize chromatin.

We also cover his move to EMBL and later to Munich, where his lab expanded into dosage compensation in Drosophila. He describes work on the MSL complex targeting, MRE sequences, ROX RNA, DNA shape features, and how biochemical reconstitution was used to study how the complex recognizes the X chromosome.

Finally, we discuss his later work on TIP-60 and histone acetylation, including acetylome studies, and his reflections on leadership roles at EMBL and on the use of the term epigenetics. He emphasizes that epigenetics should be understood as one layer among genetics, environment, and socialization, not as a replacement for genetics.

References

Tsukiyama, T., Becker, P. B., & Wu, C. (1994). ATP-dependent nucleosome disruption at a heat-shock promoter mediated by binding of GAGA transcription factor. Nature, 367(6463), 525–532. https://doi.org/10.1038/367525a0
Varga-Weisz, P. D., Wilm, M., Bonte, E., Dumas, K., Mann, M., & Becker, P. B. (1997). Chromatin-remodelling factor CHRAC contains the ATPases ISWI and topoisomerase II. Nature, 388(6642), 598–602. https://doi.org/10.1038/41587
Corona, D. F., Längst, G., Clapier, C. R., Bonte, E. J., Ferrari, S., Tamkun, J. W., & Becker, P. B. (1999). ISWI is an ATP-dependent nucleosome remodeling factor. Molecular cell, 3(2), 239–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80314-7
Akhtar, A., & Becker, P. B. (2000). Activation of transcription through histone H4 acetylation by MOF, an acetyltransferase essential for dosage compensation in Drosophila. Molecular cell, 5(2), 367–375. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80431-1
Akhtar, A., Zink, D., & Becker, P. B. (2000). Chromodomains are protein-RNA interaction modules. Nature, 407(6802), 405–409. https://doi.org/10.1038/35030169
Villa, R., Schauer, T., Smialowski, P., Straub, T., & Becker, P. B. (2016). PionX sites mark the X chromosome for dosage compensation. Nature, 537(7619), 244–248. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19338

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