Zentrale Abteilung für Mikroskopie - Imaging Core Facility

Marie-Christine Dabauvalle (EM)

Prof. Dr. Marie-Christine Dabauvalle

Group Leader
Zentrale Abteilung für Mikroskopie
Am Hubland
97074 Würzburg
Germany
Gebäude: Biozentrum
Raum: DK 23/24
Telefon: +49 931 31-88055

Marie-Christine Dabauvalle is a cell biologist with special interest in the function and dynamics of the nuclear envelope. She graduated from the University Paris 7 (France), where she also obtained her PhD in 1979 for a thesis performed at the cancer research institute “Gustave Roussy” in Villejuif (France). Then Marie-Christine spent several years as postdoc at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg (until 1985, with Werner W. Franke), where she studied the transmembrane exchange of macromolecules through the nuclear pore complexes. During this time she was habilitated by the University Paris 7 (1984). After that she joined Eric Karsenti´s group at the EMBL in Heidelberg and studied the structure and duplication of centrosomes (1985-1987). In 1987 she moved as lecturer to the University of Würzburg and since 1994 she is associate professor at the Division of Electron Microcopy (apl. Professorin since 1998). Her research concentrates on mechanisms involved in the formation of nuclear pore complexes and the impact of the nuclear envelope and nuclear membrane-associated proteins on various forms of muscle dystrophies. Furthermore, Marie-Christine is head of the Gender Equality office of the University.

In eukaryotic cells, the nucleus is surrounded by the nuclear envelope which is penetrated by nuclear pore complexes (NPC) to allow for the exchange of macromolecules between nucleus and cytoplasm. These bidirectional transport processes are highly selective, saturable and energy-requiring. Knowledge of NPC structure, composition and molecular organization is a necessary prerequisite to understanding these transport mechanisms. Marie-Christine Dabauvalle is studying structural and functional aspects of NPCs using Xenopus laevis as model organism. Her group could show that nuclear actin is critically involved in the NPC-mediated nuclear export of proteins with leucine-rich nuclear export signals. NPCs are dynamic structures. During mitosis the nuclear envelope breaks down into numerous vesicles and reforms at telophase. A particular suitable system to analyze specific events involved in nuclear envelope assembly is provided by the cell-free system based on Xenopus egg extract. The group of Marie-Christine Dabauvalle demonstrated for the first time that annulate lamellae (pore complex-containing membrane cisternae) assemble spontaneously in such extracts to which no chromatin has been added. Based on these results it was possible to separate experimentally two important processes involved in nuclear envelope assembly: formation of the double-layered nuclear membrane (resulting in NPC-free nuclei) and insertion of NPCs into the membrane. They identified the Major Vault Protein (MVP) as the factor which triggers the NPC assembly in a preformed double-layered nuclear membrane. Currently the group of Marie-Christine Dabauvalle is analyzing in more detail the surprising role of vaults by using a combination of biochemistry, electron microscopy and high resolution fluorescence microscopy in living cells. The “laminopathies” are a rapidly expanding group of human hereditary diseases. They are caused by mutations of proteins of the nuclear envelope, in particular of the nuclear lamina which lines and stabilizes the inner nuclear membrane. Although the nuclear lamina is a structure common to all cell types, the clinical syndromes associated with laminopathies are generally restricted to specific tissues. Patient cells of the affected tissues display profound changes of nuclear architecture and chromatin organization. A second focus of the current work of Marie-Christine Dabauvalle is to explore the relationships between nuclear lamina dysfunction and muscular dystrophy.

2009[ to top ]
  • Vollmar, F., Hacker, C., Zahedi, R.-P., Sickmann, A., Ewald, A., Scheer, U., and Dabauvalle, M.-C. (2009) Assembly of nuclear pore complexes mediated by major vault protein, Journal of Cell Science, 122(6), 780–786, available: https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.039529.
2001[ to top ]
  • Hofmann, W., Reichart, B., Ewald, A., M{ü}ller, E., Schmitt, I., Stauber, R.H., Lottspeich, F., Jockusch, B.M., Scheer, U., Hauber, J., and Dabauvalle, M.-C. (2001) Cofactor Requirements for Nuclear Export of Rev Response Element (Rre){\textendash}And Constitutive Transport Element (Cte){\textendash}Containing Retroviral Rnas, The Journal of Cell Biology, 152(5), 895–910, available: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.152.5.895.
1991[ to top ]
  • Dabauvalle, M.C., Loos, K., Merkert, H., and Scheer, U. (1991) Spontaneous assembly of pore complex-containing membranes (‘annulate lamellae’) in Xenopus egg extract in the absence of chromatin., The Journal of Cell Biology, 112(6), 1073–1082, available: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.112.6.1073.
1988[ to top ]
  • Dabauvalle, M.C., Doree, M., Bravo, R., and Karsenti, E. (1988) Role of nuclear material in the early cell cycle of xenopus embryos, Cell, 52(4), 525–533, available: https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-8674(88)90465-5.
1982[ to top ]
  • Dabauvalle, M.C. and Franke, W.W. (1982) Karyophilic proteins: polypeptides synthesized in vitro accumulate in the nucleus on microinjection into the cytoplasm of amphibian oocytes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 79(17), 5302–5306, available: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.79.17.5302.

2022[ to top ]
  • Arbogast, S., Kotzur, H., Frank, C., Compagnone, N., Sutra, T., Pillard, F., Pietri, S., Hmada, N., Moussa, D.M.A., Bride, J., Françonnet, S., Mercier, J., Cristol, J.-P., Dabauvalle, M.-C., and Laoudj-Chenivesse, D. (2022) ANT1 overexpression models: Some similarities with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, Redox Biology, 56, 102450, available: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2022.102450.
2013[ to top ]
  • Reil, M. and Dabauvalle, M.-C. (2013) Essential roles of LEM-domain protein MAN1 during organogenesis in Xenopus laevis and overlapping functions of emerin, European Journal of Cell Biology, 92(8), 280–294, available: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejcb.2013.10.008.
2012[ to top ]
  • Wolter, S., Löschberger, A., Holm, T., Aufmkolk, S., Dabauvalle, M.-C., van de Linde, S., and Sauer, M. (2012) rapidSTORM: accurate, fast open-source software for localization microscopy, Nature Methods, 9, 1040-, available: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2224.
  • L{ö}schberger, A., van de Linde, S., Dabauvalle, M.-C., Rieger, B., Heilemann, M., Krohne, G., and Sauer, M. (2012) Super-resolution imaging visualizes the eightfold symmetry of gp210 proteins around the nuclear pore complex and resolves the central channel with nanometer resolution, Journal of Cell Science, 125(3), 570–575, available: https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.098822.
2011[ to top ]
  • Halder, P., Chen, Y.- chun, Brauckhoff, J., Hofbauer, A., Dabauvalle, M.-C., Lewandrowski, U., Winkler, C., Sickmann, A., and Buchner, E. (2011) Identification of Eps15 as Antigen Recognized by the Monoclonal Antibodies aa2 and ab52 of the Wuerzburg Hybridoma Library against Drosophila Brain, PLOS ONE, 6(12), 1–8, available: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029352.
  • Moiseeva, O., Bourdeau, V., Vernier, M., Dabauvalle, M.-C., and Ferbeyre, G. (2011) Retinoblastoma-independent regulation of cell proliferation and senescence by the p53–p21 axis in lamin A /C-depleted cells, Aging Cell, 10(5), 789–797, available: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-9726.2011.00719.x.
2010[ to top ]
  • Schneider, H., Dabauvalle, M.-C., Wilken, N., and Scheer, U. (2010) Visualizing protein interactions involved in the formation of the 42S RNP storage particle of Xenopus oocytes, Biology of the Cell, 102(8), 469–478, available: https://doi.org/10.1042/BC20100034.
2009[ to top ]
  • Vollmar, F., Hacker, C., Zahedi, R.-P., Sickmann, A., Ewald, A., Scheer, U., and Dabauvalle, M.-C. (2009) Assembly of nuclear pore complexes mediated by major vault protein, Journal of Cell Science, 122(6), 780–786, available: https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.039529.
2001[ to top ]
  • Hofmann, W., Reichart, B., Ewald, A., M{ü}ller, E., Schmitt, I., Stauber, R.H., Lottspeich, F., Jockusch, B.M., Scheer, U., Hauber, J., and Dabauvalle, M.-C. (2001) Cofactor Requirements for Nuclear Export of Rev Response Element (Rre){\textendash}And Constitutive Transport Element (Cte){\textendash}Containing Retroviral Rnas, The Journal of Cell Biology, 152(5), 895–910, available: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.152.5.895.
1991[ to top ]
  • Dabauvalle, M.C., Loos, K., Merkert, H., and Scheer, U. (1991) Spontaneous assembly of pore complex-containing membranes (‘annulate lamellae’) in Xenopus egg extract in the absence of chromatin., The Journal of Cell Biology, 112(6), 1073–1082, available: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.112.6.1073.
1988[ to top ]
  • Dabauvalle, M.C., Doree, M., Bravo, R., and Karsenti, E. (1988) Role of nuclear material in the early cell cycle of xenopus embryos, Cell, 52(4), 525–533, available: https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-8674(88)90465-5.
1982[ to top ]
  • Dabauvalle, M.C. and Franke, W.W. (1982) Karyophilic proteins: polypeptides synthesized in vitro accumulate in the nucleus on microinjection into the cytoplasm of amphibian oocytes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 79(17), 5302–5306, available: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.79.17.5302.