Ekaterina was graduated from Biological department of Moscow State University, in 1998. She completed her postgraduate project at the Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, and defended the thesis entitled “Mechanism of action of Drosophila melanogaster Su(Hw) insulator” in 2001. Ekaterina joined Skoltech in 2013 to study CRISPR-Cas prokaryotic immunity, she’s mainly interested in details of the adaptive CRISPR spacer acquisition process, and in the interactions of CRISPR-Cas systems with cell genome maintaining machinery.
CRISPR is a prokaryotic system that provides acquired immunity against plasmids and phages. This system is comprised of a cluster of short repeats (24-47bp long), interspersed by similarly sized non-repetitive sequences (called spacers), and a set of CRISPR-associated (cas) genes. CRISPRs are found in ~40% of bacterial and ~99% of archaeal genomes sequenced to date. CRISPR loci are transcribed into a single RNA transcript, which is then further cleaved by the Cas proteins to generate smaller CRISPR RNA units, each including one targeting spacer. These units, in complex with Cas proteins, interfere with mobile genetic elements by base-pairing with matching foreign DNA and leading to its cleavage and degradation. In response to phage (or plasmid) infection bacteria can integrate new spacers identical to the phage genomic sequence (termed protospacer), resulting in the appearance of adaptive CRISPR-mediated phage resistance. While there have been great advances in the biochemistry of CRISPR action, the details of the process as well as its influence on bacteriophage-bacteria co-evolution remain to be elucidated.
**Muravyova is a maiden name.
Metchnikov stipend from French Embassy. 2016.
RFBR 2016-2018 (IMG RAS) Cross-talk between CRISPR-Cas system and mechanisms ensuring genome stability in Escherichia coli.
RFBR 2013-2014. (IMG RAS) The mechanisms of CRISPR/Cas interference regulation in Escherichia coli.
Grant of President of Russian Federation for young post-graduated scientists. Role of tne methyl DNA binding protein Kaiso in regulatation of gene expression. 2008-2009.