Sebastian Leidel - Selected Publications#

Professor Sebastian Leidel has worked in different areas from cell biology to biochemistry and his key contributions are in the field of natural chemical modifications of RNA and translational control of protein biosynthesis. He has identified the previously elusive URM1 pathway responsible for an evolutionarily conserved tRNA modification that had been proposed as an HIV drug target. Furthermore, his lab showed that the absence of wobble anticodon modifications leads to a codon-specific slowdown of translation. This defect triggers a failure of cellular protein homeostasis as observed in degenerative diseases in humans. This established the role of local translation rates for protein homeostasis.

Professor Leidel's work has been published in more than 40 research articles, reviews and book chapters ranging from science ethics to biochemistry and published in journals like Nature, Cell and other highly ranked journals.

No of publications (since 2000): 41
Citations (Web of Knowledge): 2160
Citations (Google Scholar): >3100
Average Citations per Item (Web of Knowledge): 41.5
h-Index (Web of Knowledge): 18
h-Index (Google Scholar): 22

1. de Crécy-Lagard V**, Boccaletto P, Mangleburg CG, Sharma P, Lowe TM**, Leidel SA**, Bujnicki JM**, Matching tRNA modifications in humans to their known and predicted enzymes.
Nucleic Acids Research 2019 Mar 18;47(5):2143-2159.

2. Sarin LP, Kienast SD, Leufken J, Ross RL, Dziergowska A, Debiec K, Sochacka E, Limbach PA, Fufezan C, Drexler HCA, Leidel SA. Nano LC-MS using capillary columns enables accurate quantification of modified ribonucleosides at low femtomol levels.
RNA 2018; 24(10): 1403-1417.

3. Termathe M and Leidel SA. A thioester intermediate via the E1-like activating protein Uba4 is required for thiocarboxylation of Urm1 and tRNA thiolation.
Nucleic Acids Research 2018; 46(10): 5171-5181.

4. Rapino F, Delaunay S, Rambow F, Zhou Z, Tharun L, De Tullio P, Sin O, Schmitz S, Piepers J, Ghesquière B, Karim L, Charloteaux B, Jamart D, Florin A, Lambert C, Rorive A, Jerusalem G, Leucci E, Dewaele M, Vooijs M, Leidel SA, Georges M, Voz M, Peers B, Büttner R, Marine JC, Chariot A, Close P. Codon-specific translation reprogramming promotes resistance to targeted therapy.
Nature 2018; 558(7711): 605-609.

5. Hartstock K, Nilges BS, Ovcharenko A, Cornelissen N, Püllen N, Lawrence-Dörner A, Leidel SA, Rentmeister A. Enzymatic or in vivo installation of propargyl groups in combination with click chemistry enables enrichment and detection of methyltransferase target sites in RNA.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2018; 57(21): 6342-6346.

6. Leufken J, Niehues A, Sarin LP, Hippler M, Leidel SA**, Fufezan C**. pyQms enables universal and accurate quantification of mass spectrometry data.
Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 2017; 16(10): 1736-1745.

7. Malecki J, Aileni V, Ho A, Nilges B, Moen A, Sørensen V, Schwarz J, Jakobsson M, Leidel SA, Falnes P. The novel lysine specific methyltransferase METTL21B affects protein translation through inducible and dynamic methylation of Lys-165 in human eukaryotic elongation factor 1 alpha (eEF1A).

Nucleic Acids Research 2017; 45(8): 4370-4389.

8. Nedialkova DD and Leidel SA. Optimization of codon translation rates via tRNA modifications maintains proteome integrity.
Cell 2015; 161(7): 1606-1618.

9. Alings F, Sarin LP, Fufezan C, Drexler HCA, Leidel SA. An evolutionary approach uncovers a diverse response of tRNA 2-thiolation to elevated temperatures in yeast.
RNA 2015; 21(2): 202-212.

10. Leidel S*, Pedrioli P*, Bucher T, Brost R, Costanzo M, Schmidt A, Aebersold R, Boone C, Hofmann K, Peter M. Ubiquitin-related modifier Urm1 acts as a sulfur-carrier in thiolation of eukaryotic tRNA.
Nature 2009; 458(7235): 228-232.

• Co-first authors
  

• • Co-corresponding authors