We are pleased to announce that Dr. Agnieszka Szczepańska from the Department of Ribonucleoprotein Biochemistry has been awarded funding in the MINIATURA 8 call for proposals by the National Science Center for her project titled “Obtaining two Dicer ribonuclease variants of the model organism Xenopus laevis – preparation for biochemical activity studies and structural analyses”.

The aim of the project is to obtain two variants of the Dicer ribonuclease from Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog) and to conduct a preliminary analysis of the substrate specificity of both Dicer forms. Dicer proteins are enzymes crucial for the biogenesis of small regulatory RNAs, including microRNAs and small interfering RNAs. X. laevis possesses two Dicer forms: a full-length form, called XlaDicer_L, and a shortened form, XlaDicer_S. The planned research aims to compare the biochemical activity of both Dicer forms from X. laevis and determine their ability to cleave various RNA substrates. The results will provide a deeper understanding of the evolutionary and biochemical differences between Dicer ribonucleases in different species and significantly expand the knowledge of X. laevis, a valuable and widely used model organism.

The researcher explains the significance of this study: “The XlaDicer ribonucleases have never been analyzed in terms of their biochemical activity. Interestingly, with regard to Dicer, the African clawed frog seems to represent an intermediate link between invertebrates and vertebrates: the genome of X. laevis, like that of the fruit fly, contains two genes encoding Dicer. Higher vertebrate genomes, including humans, contain only one such gene”.

Congratulations and best wishes for continued success!