Kathleen Collins

Walter and Ruth Schubert Family Chair, Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology

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Research Interests

Biochemistry, biology, and biotechnology of eukaryotic retroelements and their reverse transcriptases

After 25 years of field-leading research in our studies of telomerase, endogenous RNA silencing, non-coding RNAs, and RNP biogenesis, the Collins lab transitioned to explore new uncharted realms: eukaryotic retroelements, non-LTR retrotransposon reverse transcriptases, and the use of engineered reverse transcriptases for RNA sequencing and gene therapy technologies. Funded by an NIH Director's Pioneer Award, we seek to understand the unique principles of eukaryotic non-LTR retrotransposon biochemistry and biology. We are using our insights to engineer new methods for safe, versatile, site-specific transgene addition to the human genome.

Selected Publications

Zhang X, Van Treeck B, Horton CA, McIntyre JJR, Palm SM, Shumate JL, Collins K.  Harnessing eukaryotic retroelement proteins for transgene insertion into human safe-harbor loci. Nature Biotechnology (2024). doi: 10.1038/s41587-024-02137-y

Lee RJ, Horton CH, Van Treeck B, McIntyre JJR, Collins K. Conserved and divergent DNA recognition specificities and functions of R2 retrotransposon N-terminal domains. Cell Reports 43: 114239 (2024). doi: 10.1093/nar/gkae194

Palm SM, Horton CA, Zhang X, Collins K. Structure and sequence at an RNA template 5' end influence insertion of transgenes by an R2 retrotransposon protein. RNA 30: 1227-1245 (2024). doi: 10.1261/rna.080031.124

Rodríguez-Vargas A, Collins K. Distinct and overlapping RNA determinants for binding and target-primed reverse transcription by Bombyx mori R2 retrotransposon protein. Nucleic Acids Research  (2024). doi: 10.1093/nar/gkae194

Thawani A*, Florez Ariza AJ, Nogales E*, Collins K* (*co-corresponding). Template and target site recognition by human LINE-1 in retrotransposition. Nature 626: 186-193 (2024). doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06933-5

Ferguson L, Upton HE, Pimentel SC, Mok A, Lareau LF, Collins K*, Ingolia NT* (*co-corresponding). Streamlined and sensitive mono- and di-ribosome profiling in yeast and human cells. Nature Methods 20: 1704-1715 (2023). doi: 10.1038/s41592-023-02028-1

Shaw A, Craig JM, Amiri H, Kim J, Upton HE, Pimentel SC, Huang JR, Marqusee S*, Collins K*, Gundlach JH*, Bustamante CJ* (*co-corresponding). Nanopore molecular trajectories of a eukaryotic reverse transcriptase reveal a long-range RNA structure sensing mechanism. bioRxiv (2023). doi: 10.1101/2023.04.05.535757

Pimentel SC, Upton HE, Collins K. Separable structural requirements for cDNA synthesis, nontemplated extension, and template jumping by a non-LTR retroelement reverse transcriptase. Journal of Biological Chemistry 298: 101624 (2022). doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.101624

Upton HE, Ferguson L, Temoche-Diaz MM, Liu XM, Pimentel SC, Ingolia NT, Schekman R, Collins K. Low-bias ncRNA libraries using ordered two-template relay: Serial template jumping by a modified retroelement reverse transcriptase. PNAS 118: e2107900118 (2021). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2107900118

Photo credit: Mark Hanson of Mark Joseph Studios.

Last Updated 2024-09-24