Michael Terns
Professor
Ph.D. (1990) Pennsylvania State University
Phone: 706-542-1896
Email: mterns@bmb.uga.edu
See my Laboratory Home Page

Research Interests
We are studying the biogenesis, trafficking and function of non-coding RNA-protein complexes with the goal of improving the understanding and treatment of human disease including cancer, spinal muscular atrophy, and dyskeratosis congenita.
  • Youssef, O.A., R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 2007. Dynamic interactions within sub-complexes of the H/ACA pseudouridylation guide RNP, Nucleic Acids Research 35: 6196-206.
  • Cristofari, G., E. Adolf, P. Reichenbach, K. Sikora, R.M. Terns, M.P. Terns and J. Lingner. 2007. Human telomerase RNA accumulation in Cajal bodies facilitates telomerase recruitment to telomeres and telomere elongation. Molecular Cell 27: 882-889.
  • Oruganti, S., Y. Zhang, H. Robinson, M.P. Terns, R.M. Terns, W. Yang and H. Li. 2007. Alternative conformations of the archaeal Nop56/58-fibrillarin complex imply flexibility in box C/D RNPs. Journal of Molecular Biology 371: 1141-50.
  • Matera, A.G., M.P. Terns and R.M. Terns. 2007. Noncoding RNAs: Lessons from the snRNAs and snoRNAs. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 8: 209-20.
  • Terns, M.P. and R.M. Terns. 2006. Non-Coding RNAs of the H/ACA Family. 71st Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Symposium on Quantitative Biology: Regulatory RNAs 71: 395-405.
  • Roovers, M., C. Hale, C. Tricot, M.P. Terns, R.M. Terns, H. Grosjean and L. Droogmans. 2006. Formation of the conserved pseudouridine at position 55 in archaeal tRNA. Nucleic Acids Research 34: 4293-301.
  • Rashid, R., B. Liang, D.L. Baker, O.A. Youssef, Y. He, K. Phipps, R.M. Terns, M.P. Terns and H. Li. 2006. Crystal Structure of a Cbf5-Nop10-Gar1 Complex and Implications in RNA-Guided Pseudouridylation and Dyskeratosis Congenita. Molecular Cell 21: 249-60.
  • Tomlinson, R.L., T.D. Ziegler, T. Supakorndej, R.M. Terns, and M.P. Terns. 2005. Cell cycle regulated trafficking of human telomerase to telomeres. Molecular Biology of the Cell 17: 955-65.
  • Baker, D.L., O.A. Youssef, M.I.R. Chastkofsky, D. Dy, R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 2005. RNA-Guided RNA modification: Functional organization of the Archaeal H/ACA RNP. Genes & Development 19: 1238-48.
  • Starostina, N.G., S. Marshburn, L.S. Johnson, S.R. Eddy, R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 2004. Circular box C/D RNAs in Pyrococcus furiosus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101: 14097-101.
  • Zhu, Y., R. Tomlinson, A. Lukowiak, R. M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 2003. Telomerase RNA accumulates in Cajal bodies in human cancer cells. Molecular Biology of the Cell 15: 81-90.
  • Leary, D. J., M. P. Terns and S. Huang. 2003. Components of U3 snoRNA containing complexes shuttle between nuclei and the cytoplasm and differentially localize in nucleoli: Implications for assembly and function. Molecular Biology of the Cell 15: 281-93.
  • Terns, M.P. and R.M. Terns. 2002. Small nucleolar RNAs: Versatile Trans-acting molecules of ancient evolutionary origin. Gene Expression 10: 17-39.
  • Speckmann, W., Z-H. Li, T. Lowe, S. Eddy, R.M. Terns, and M.P. Terns. 2002. Archaeal guide RNAs function in rRNA modification in the eukaryotic nucleus. Current Biology 12: 199-203.
  • Etheridge K.T., S.S. Banik, B.N. Armbruster, Y. Zhu, R.M. Terns, M.P. Terns and C.M. Counter. 2002. The nucleolar localization domain of the catalytic subunit of human telomerase. Journal of Biological Chemistry 277: 24764-70.
  • Cahill, N.M., K. Friend, W. Speckmann, Z.H. Li, R.M. Terns, M.P. Terns and J.A. Steitz. 2002. Site-specific cross-linking analyses reveal an asymmetric protein distribution for a box C/D snoRNP. EMBO Journal 21: 3816-3628.
  • Narayanan, A., J. Eifert, K.A. Marfatia, I.G. Macara, A.H Corbett, R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 2002. Nuclear RanGTP is not required for targeting small nucleolar RNAs to the nucleolus. Journal of Cell Science 116: 177-186.
  • Whitehead, S.E., K.W. Jones, X. Zhang, X. Cheng , R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 2002. Determinants of the interaction of the spinal muscular atrophy disease protein SMN with the dimethylarginine-modified Box H/ACA snoRNP protein GAR1. Journal of Biological Chemistry 277: 48087-93.
  • Zhao, X., Z-H. Li, R.M. Terns, M.P. Terns, and Y.-T. Yu 2002. An H/ACA guide RNA directs U2 pseudouridylation at two different sites in the branch point recognition region in Xenopus oocytes. RNA 8: 1515-25.
  • Yu, Y., M. Shu, A. Narayanan, R.M. Terns, M.P. Terns and J.A. Steitz. 2001. Internal modification of U2 snRNA occurs in nucleoli of Xenopus oocytes. Journal of Cell Biology 152: 1279-1288.
  • Jones, K.W., K. Gorzynski, C.M. Hales, U. Fischer, F. Badbanchi, R. M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 2001. Direct interaction of the spinal muscular atrophy disease protein SMN with the small nucleolar RNA-associated protein fibrillarin. Journal of Biological Chemistry 276: 38645-38651.
  • Terns, M.P. and R.M. Terns. 2001. Macromolecular complexes: SMN - the master assembler. Current Biology 11: R862–R864.
  • Lukowiak, A. A., A. Narayanan, Z. Li, R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 2001. The snoRNA domain of human telomerase RNA functions to localize the RNA within the nucleus. RNA 7: 1833-1844.
  • Lukowiak, A., S. Granneman, S. Mattox, W. Speckmann, K. Jones, H. Pluk, W. van Venrooij, R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 2000. Interaction of the U3-55k protein with U3 snoRNA is mediated by the Box B/C motif of U3 and the WD40 repeats of U3-55k. Nucleic Acids Research 28: 3462-3471.
  • Speckmann, W., R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 2000. The Box C/D motif targets 5' cap hypermethylation of small nucleolar RNAs. Nucleic Acids Research 28: 4467-4473.
  • Narayanan, A., W.Speckmann, R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 1999. Role of the Box C/D motif in the localization of small nucleolar RNAs to coiled bodies and nucleoli. Molecular Biology of the Cell 10: 2137-2147.
  • Narayanan, A., A. Lukowiak , B. Jady, F. Dragon, T. Kiss, R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 1999. Nucleolar localization signals of Box H/ACA small nucleolar RNAs. EMBO J. 18: 5120-5130.
  • Speckmann, W., A. Narayanan, R.M. Terns and M.P. Terns. 1999. Nuclear retention elements of U3 small nucleolar RNA. Mol. Cell. Biol. 19: 8412-8421.
  • Terns, M.P., C. Grimm, E. Lund and J.E. Dahlberg. 1995. A common maturation pathway for small nucleolar RNAs. EMBO J. 14: 4860-4871.
  • Terns, M.P. and J.E. Dahlberg. 1994. Retention and 5' cap trimethylation of U3 snRNA in the nucleus. Science 264: 959-961.
  • “Biogenesis and Trafficking of snoRNPs,” NIH
  • “Analysis of SMN function in human motor neurons,” NIH
  • “Telomerase: Transport and Targeting,” NIH.
  • “Etiology of Spinal Muscular Atrophy,” Nora L. Redman Fund