Draft:Joaquim Roca

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Joaquim Roca
Roca in 2024
Born
Joaquim Roca Bosch

1960 (age 64–65)
Barcelona
Alma mater
Known for
Scientific career
FieldsBiophysics & Molecular biology
Institutions
Websiterocabosch.com/DNATOPOLOGY/index.html

Joaquim Roca (Barcelona 1960) is a biomedical scientist internationally renowned for his research on Chromosome DNA topology. He is a Professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)[1] and currently leads the DNA Topology Lab at the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB)[2][3].

Education

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Roca received his Medical Degree (MD) in 1984 from the University of Barcelona, his Master's degree (MS) in 1985 from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, and his Doctorate (PhD) in 1988 from the University of Barcelona.[4] [5] [6]. His Thesis on DNA Topoisomerase activities during the Spermatogenesis received the University of Barcelona Extraordinary Award for doctoral studies [7] [8] [9]

Career

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In 1988, after serving one year as Assistant professor of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine in Barcelona[10], Roca moved to Harvard University to work as a Postdoctoral fellow (1988-1991) and later as a Research associate (1992-1995) in the laboratory of James C. Wang. In 1996, he obtained a Tenure position at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)[11] and returned to Barcelona to establish the DNA Topology Laboratory at IBMB[12][13]. Roca was promoted to research Professor in 2008. He served as Chairman of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (2002-2006), as Deputy Director of IBMB (2006-2010), and as Chairman of the Department of Structural and Molecular Biology (2023-2026) [14][15][16][17] [18]

Research Contributions

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Roca's research centers on the nanomechanics of chromosome DNA topology, with a particular focus on how DNA twisting and coiling are regulated and how these parameters determine the spatial configuration of the DNA double helix during genome functions. A major challenge in this field is the scarcity of specialists and the technical limitations in measuring conformational dynamics of DNA in living cells. Roca has pioneered several key discoveries and methodological advances in the study of DNA topology and chromatin structure [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] , including:

  • The “two-gate DNA transport mechanism” of type-2 topoisomerases. A foundational contribution to the mechanistic understanding of DNA strand passage[1][2][3]
The two-gate DNA transport mechanism of type-2 topoisomerases described by Roca in 1995.
Resolution of knotted (left) and supercoils (right) forms of DNA molecules via high-resolution 2D-gel electrophoresis developed by Roca's Lab.
Resolution of positive and negative trefoil DNA knots via super-resolution 2D-gel electrophoresis developed by Roca's Lab.
  • The discovery of intracellular DNA knots and elucidation of their interplay with genome activity and chromatin architecture.[11][12][13]
  • The resolution of the "linking number paradox" of nucleosome DNA, establishing average values for Lk, Tw, and Wr in cellular nucleosomes and advancing the understanding of DNA folding at the first level of chromatin organization.[14]
Roca's Lab solved the linking number paradox of nucleosome DNA by measuring the average values of Lk, Tw and Wr of intracellular nucleosomes.
  • Proposal of the “DNA pinch and merge” mechanism for the DNA loop extrusion action of SMC proteins.[15]

References

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  1. ^ Roca, J.; Wang, J. C. (27 November 1992). "The capture of a DNA double helix by an ATP-dependent protein clamp: a key step in DNA transport by type II DNA topoisomerases". Cell. 71 (5): 833–840. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(92)90558-t. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 1330327.
  2. ^ Roca, J.; Wang, J. C. (20 May 1994). "DNA transport by a type II DNA topoisomerase: evidence in favor of a two-gate mechanism". Cell. 77 (4): 609–616. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(94)90222-4. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 8187179.
  3. ^ Roca, J. (April 1995). "The mechanisms of DNA topoisomerases". Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 20 (4): 156–160. doi:10.1016/s0968-0004(00)88993-8. ISSN 0968-0004. PMID 7770916.
  4. ^ Arsuaga, Javier; Vázquez, Mariel; Trigueros, Sonia; Sumners, De Witt; Roca, Joaquim (16 April 2002). "Knotting probability of DNA molecules confined in restricted volumes: DNA knotting in phage capsids". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 99 (8): 5373–5377. Bibcode:2002PNAS...99.5373A. doi:10.1073/pnas.032095099. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 122776. PMID 11959991.
  5. ^ Trigueros, S.; Arsuaga, J.; Vazquez, M. E.; Sumners, D. W.; Roca, J. (1 July 2001). "Novel display of knotted DNA molecules by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis". Nucleic Acids Research. 29 (13): E67–67. doi:10.1093/nar/29.13.e67. ISSN 1362-4962. PMC 55791. PMID 11433043.
  6. ^ Arsuaga, Javier; Vazquez, Mariel; McGuirk, Paul; Trigueros, Sonia; Sumners, De Witt; Roca, Joaquim (28 June 2005). "DNA knots reveal a chiral organization of DNA in phage capsids". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 102 (26): 9165–9169. Bibcode:2005PNAS..102.9165A. doi:10.1073/pnas.0409323102. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 1166588. PMID 15958528.
  7. ^ Valdés, Antonio; Martínez-García, Belén; Segura, Joana; Dyson, Sílvia; Díaz-Ingelmo, Ofelia; Roca, Joaquim (18 March 2019). "Quantitative disclosure of DNA knot chirality by high-resolution 2D-gel electrophoresis". Nucleic Acids Research. 47 (5): e29. doi:10.1093/nar/gkz015. ISSN 1362-4962. PMC 6412111. PMID 30649468.
  8. ^ Roca, J.; Mezquita, C. (June 1989). "DNA topoisomerase II activity in nonreplicating, transcriptionally inactive, chicken late spermatids". The EMBO Journal. 8 (6): 1855–1860. doi:10.1002/j.1460-2075.1989.tb03581.x. ISSN 0261-4189. PMC 401034. PMID 2548858.
  9. ^ Salceda, Javier; Fernández, Xavier; Roca, Joaquim (7 June 2006). "Topoisomerase II, not topoisomerase I, is the proficient relaxase of nucleosomal DNA". The EMBO Journal. 25 (11): 2575–2583. doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601142. ISSN 0261-4189. PMC 1478187. PMID 16710299.
  10. ^ Fernández, Xavier; Díaz-Ingelmo, Ofelia; Martínez-García, Belén; Roca, Joaquim (1 July 2014). "Chromatin regulates DNA torsional energy via topoisomerase II-mediated relaxation of positive supercoils". The EMBO Journal. 33 (13): 1492–1501. doi:10.15252/embj.201488091. ISSN 1460-2075. PMC 4194091. PMID 24859967.
  11. ^ Valdés, Antonio; Segura, Joana; Dyson, Sílvia; Martínez-García, Belén; Roca, Joaquim (25 January 2018). "DNA knots occur in intracellular chromatin". Nucleic Acids Research. 46 (2): 650–660. doi:10.1093/nar/gkx1137. ISSN 1362-4962. PMC 5778459. PMID 29149297.
  12. ^ Valdés, Antonio; Coronel, Lucia; Martínez-García, Belén; Segura, Joana; Dyson, Sílvia; Díaz-Ingelmo, Ofelia; Micheletti, Cristian; Roca, Joaquim (26 July 2019). "Transcriptional supercoiling boosts topoisomerase II-mediated knotting of intracellular DNA". Nucleic Acids Research. 47 (13): 6946–6955. doi:10.1093/nar/gkz491. ISSN 1362-4962. PMC 6649788. PMID 31165864.
  13. ^ Dyson, Sílvia; Segura, Joana; Martínez-García, Belén; Valdés, Antonio; Roca, Joaquim (4 January 2021). "Condensin minimizes topoisomerase II-mediated entanglements of DNA in vivo". The EMBO Journal. 40 (1): e105393. doi:10.15252/embj.2020105393. ISSN 1460-2075. PMC 7780148. PMID 33155682.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  14. ^ Segura, Joana; Joshi, Ricky S.; Díaz-Ingelmo, Ofelia; Valdés, Antonio; Dyson, Silvia; Martínez-García, Belén; Roca, Joaquim (28 September 2018). "Intracellular nucleosomes constrain a DNA linking number difference of -1.26 that reconciles the Lk paradox". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 3989. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9.3989S. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06547-w. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 6162219. PMID 30266901.
  15. ^ Martínez-García, Belén; Dyson, Sílvia; Segura, Joana; Ayats, Alba; Cutts, Erin E.; Gutierrez-Escribano, Pilar; Aragón, Luís; Roca, Joaquim (1 February 2023). "Condensin pinches a short negatively supercoiled DNA loop during each round of ATP usage". The EMBO Journal. 42 (3): e111913. doi:10.15252/embj.2022111913. ISSN 1460-2075. PMC 9890231. PMID 36533296.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  16. ^ Bermúdez, Ignacio; García-Martínez, José; Pérez-Ortín, José E.; Roca, Joaquim (October 2010). "A method for genome-wide analysis of DNA helical tension by means of psoralen-DNA photobinding". Nucleic Acids Research. 38 (19): e182. doi:10.1093/nar/gkq687. ISSN 1362-4962. PMC 2965259. PMID 20685815.
  17. ^ Joshi, Ricky S.; Piña, Benjamin; Roca, Joaquim (17 February 2010). "Positional dependence of transcriptional inhibition by DNA torsional stress in yeast chromosomes". The EMBO Journal. 29 (4): 740–748. doi:10.1038/emboj.2009.391. ISSN 1460-2075. PMC 2805846. PMID 20057354.
  18. ^ Segura, Joana; Díaz-Ingelmo, Ofelia; Martínez-García, Belén; Ayats-Fraile, Alba; Nikolaou, Christoforos; Roca, Joaquim (28 May 2024). "Nucleosomal DNA has topological memory". Nature Communications. 15 (1): 4526. Bibcode:2024NatCo..15.4526S. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-49023-4. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 11133463. PMID 38806488.
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Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:Barcelona Category:Science