André Sentenac - Curriculum vitae#

CV in French

PERSONAL INFORMATIONS

Date of birth: May 04, 1939
Place of birth: Casteljaloux (47) France
Married, 3 children
Office Address:
Dept. De Biologie Joliot-Curie
CEA/Saclay
91191 Gif-sur-Yvette – France
Phone : 33.01.69.07 56 96


EMPLOYMENT - FUNCTIONS

• 1963-1964: Postdoctoral position (Institute of muscle diseases, New York, NY)
• 1965 : Permanent scientist at the CEA Saclay
• 1970 : Head of Laboratory “Transcription of DNA”
• 1972 : Deputy Head of the Service de Biochimie CEA/Saclay
• 1990 : Head of the Service de Biochimie et de Génétique Moléculaire, CEA/Saclay
• 1999 : Head of the Department de Biologie Joliot Curie, CEA/Saclay
• Since 2003 : Scientific advisor for the Life Science Division of the CEA

HONORS AND SERVICE

• EMBO member since 1985
• Member of the EMBO Council (1999-2004)
• Member of various french scientific Committees for the CNRS, Pasteur Institute, CEA and French Ministry for Research.
• Member of the FEBS fellowships Committee, of the HFSPO molecular Grants Committee (1999-2003)
• Research Director at the CEA (1993)
• Officier des Palmes Académiques (1995)
• Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (2001)
• Chevalier de l'ordre de la Légion d'honneur (2007)
• Correspondent-Member then Member of the French Academy of Sciences (1999,2007)
• Member of the Academia Europaea (1999) Prizes
• Silver medal of the National Centre for Scientific Research CNRS(1987)
• Prix des Sciences Biologiques et Médicales (1995)
• Prix Charles-Léopold Mayer of the French Academy of Sciences (1997).

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY

The continuous line of research of my laboratory aimed at unraveling the molecular interactions that lead to eukaryotic gene transcription. Our studies on the yeast system have led to the isolation and characterization of many constituents of the transcription machineries among which the three forms of RNA polymerases constitute the central functional unit. Advisor for 46 PhD theses; 180 publications in the field of gene transcription in yeast.

Major contributions:

1. The purification and molecular characterisation of the three forms of RNA polymerases I, II and III from yeast. These enzymes comprise 14, 12 and 17 subunits, respectively. Some of them are modified by phosphorylation.
2. Based on the discovery of shared subunits and on in depth immunological analyses, evidence is provided that the three enzymes are evolutionary related to each other and to the RNA polymerase of Archae.
3. Cloning, mutagenesis and functional study of many of their components. Isolation of the first mutants affecting each enzyme independently.
4. Purification and molecular characterisation of the two general transcription factors TFIIIB and TFIIIC required by RNA polymerase III for accurate transcription of class III genes ( tRNA, 5SRNA and other small RNA genes)
5. Discovery that the TATA binding factor TBP is involved in transcription of a Pol III gene.
6. Cloning, mutagenesis and reconstitution of the six-subunit factor TFIIIC. Demonstration that TFIIIC binds to two distinct promoter sequence elements and relieves chromatin repression.
7. Description of the cascade of protein-DNA, protein-protein interactions that lead to RNA polymerase III recruitment and initiation of transcription.
8. Discovery of the facilitated reinitiation pathway that allows RNA polymerase III to reinitiate on the same gene without being released upon termination of transcription which accounts for the high efficiency of this transcription system
9. Recently, discovery in collaboration with polish colleagues, of a general repressor of RNA polymerase III transcription, MAF1.