51cg

People

Professor Anne Donaldson

Professor Anne Donaldson
Professor Anne Donaldson
Professor Anne Donaldson

BA (University of Cambridge, 1989), PhD (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, 1994)

Personal Chair

51cg
Email Address
a.d.donaldson@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 437316
Office Address

Room 2:17 Institute of Medical Sciences Foresterhill 51cg Aberdeen AB25 2ZD Lab phone +44 (0)1224 437312

School/Department
School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition

Biography

Anne Donaldson investigates how cells replicate their DNA—a process central to all life, since a complete copy of the genome must be passed to each daughter cell on every cell division.  Anne’s research is funded by major grants from Cancer Research UK and the Wellcome Trust.  Within the Institute of Medical Sciences Anne leads the 'Chromosome & Cellular Dynamics' Section, consisting of six research groups sharing interests in chromosome dynamics.

After her Bachelors degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, Anne completed her PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, then moved as a NATO/SERC postdoctoral fellow to the University of Washington in Seattle where she began to study DNA replication.  Anne established her lab as a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Dundee, moving in 2003 to the 51cg Institute of Medical Sciences.  

Anne served as Organizer of the Cold Spring Harbor Eukaryotic DNA Replication & Genome Maintenance meeting from 2014-2019, and on the Organizing Committee for the 2022 UK DNA Replication meeting. 

Anne is a member of the Wellcome Trust Discovery Award Interview Committee. 

Latest Publications

  • Dysregulated Alternative Splicing in Breast Cancer Subtypes of RIF1 and Other Transcripts

    Parker, E., Akintche, L., Pyatnitskaya, A., Hiraga, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 26, no. 15, 7308
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • The human RIF1-Long isoform interacts with BRCA1 to promote recombinational fork repair under DNA replication stress

    Dong, Q., Day, M., Saito, Y., Parker, E., Watts, L. P., Kanemaki, M. T., Oliver, A. W., Pearl, L. H., Hiraga, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    Nature Communications, vol. 16, 5820
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Checkpoint phosphorylation sites on budding yeast Rif1 protect nascent DNA from degradation by Sgs1-Dna2

    Gali, V. K., Monerawela, C., Laksir, Y., Hiraga, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    PLoS Genetics, vol. 19, no. 11, e1011044
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Protection of nascent DNA at stalled replication forks is mediated by phosphorylation of RIF1 intrinsically disordered region

    Balasubramanian, S., Andreani, M., Andrade, J. G., Saha, T., Sundaravinayagam, D., Garzón, J., Zhang, W., Popp, O., Hiraga, S., Rahjouei, A., Rosen, D. B., Mertins, P., Chait, B. T., Donaldson, A. D., Di Virgilio, M.
    eLife, vol. 11, e75047
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • SAF-A promotes origin licensing and replication fork progression to ensure robust DNA replication

    Connolly, C., Takahashi, S., Miura, H., Hiratani, I., Gilbert, N., Donaldson, A., Hiraga, S.
    Journal of Cell Science, vol. 135, no. 2, jcs.258991
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

View My Publications

Research

Research Overview

!!We have Postdoc and PhD positions available in the lab, funded by the Wellcome Trust and by Cancer Research UK!! 

Interested applicants please send CV to Anne Donaldson with an explanation of your interest in our research area and your related lab experience.

Human cells contain 1.8 metres of DNA in a nucleus only about 6 microns in diameter. During chromosome replication this entire length of DNA must be duplicated exactly once with perfect accuracy, so that the strands can be disentangled and precisely segregated to the daughter cells. The DNA is extremely vulnerable to damage during this process, and cells must deal with thousands of potentially lethal DNA damage events every single day. Members of the Donaldson lab investigate the molecular controls over DNA replication and damage repair. Understanding chromosome maintenance will suggest new therapeutic strategies in the fight against cancer, as well as illuminating the basic mechanisms at the heart of the cell division cycle.

The budding yeast S. cerevisiae provides an excellent model organism for studying the fundamentals of chromosome biology, because of the remarkable molecular genetics tools available for this system. DNA replication initiates at multiple sites on each chromosome called replication origins. We use molecular genetics to understand the processes of yeast DNA replication, which we then investigate in human cells.  Using this approach we have discovered several molecular mechanisms of replication control that operate throughout eukaryotic cells.

Our focus of interest is understanding the molecular machinery controlling origin initiation, replication fork progression, and chromosome maintenance.  We use a combination of advanced proteomic, biochemical, genomic and microscopy methods to investigate the cellular components that regulate these DNA replication and repair processes.  

 

Funding and Grants

Cancer Research UK Programme Award (£1,561,000) ‘How does Rif1 regulate DNA replication and cell recovery after chemotherapeutic replication inhibition?' Grant to Prof Anne Donaldson & Dr Shin-ichiro Hiraga

Wellcome Trust Discovery Award (£2,475,614) ‘Control of DNA Replication by Protein Dephosphorylation: the Role of Protein Phosphatase 1 and its Regulatory Interactors’ 

Publications

Page 1 of 1 Results 1 to 42 of 42

  • Dysregulated Alternative Splicing in Breast Cancer Subtypes of RIF1 and Other Transcripts

    Parker, E., Akintche, L., Pyatnitskaya, A., Hiraga, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 26, no. 15, 7308
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • The human RIF1-Long isoform interacts with BRCA1 to promote recombinational fork repair under DNA replication stress

    Dong, Q., Day, M., Saito, Y., Parker, E., Watts, L. P., Kanemaki, M. T., Oliver, A. W., Pearl, L. H., Hiraga, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    Nature Communications, vol. 16, 5820
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Checkpoint phosphorylation sites on budding yeast Rif1 protect nascent DNA from degradation by Sgs1-Dna2

    Gali, V. K., Monerawela, C., Laksir, Y., Hiraga, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    PLoS Genetics, vol. 19, no. 11, e1011044
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Protection of nascent DNA at stalled replication forks is mediated by phosphorylation of RIF1 intrinsically disordered region

    Balasubramanian, S., Andreani, M., Andrade, J. G., Saha, T., Sundaravinayagam, D., Garzón, J., Zhang, W., Popp, O., Hiraga, S., Rahjouei, A., Rosen, D. B., Mertins, P., Chait, B. T., Donaldson, A. D., Di Virgilio, M.
    eLife, vol. 11, e75047
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • SAF-A promotes origin licensing and replication fork progression to ensure robust DNA replication

    Connolly, C., Takahashi, S., Miura, H., Hiratani, I., Gilbert, N., Donaldson, A., Hiraga, S.
    Journal of Cell Science, vol. 135, no. 2, jcs.258991
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Protein phosphatase 1 acts as a RIF1 effector to suppress DSB resection prior to Shieldin action

    Isobe, S., Hiraga, S., Nagao, K., Sasanuma, H., Donaldson, A. D., Obuse, C.
    Cell Reports, vol. 36, no. 2, 109383
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]
    • [ONLINE]

  • Replication timing maintains the global epigenetic state in human cells

    Klein, K. N., Zhao, P. A., Lyu, X., Sasaki, T., Bartlett, D. A., Singh, A. M., Tasan, I., Zhang, M., Watts, L. P., Hiraga, S., Natsume, T., Zhou, X., Baslan, T., Leung, D., Kanemaki, M. T., Donaldson, A. D., Zhao, H., Dalton, S., Corces, V. G., Gilbert, D. M.
    Science, vol. 372, no. 6540, pp. 371-378
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • The RIF1-Long splice variant promotes G1 phase 53BP1 nuclear bodies to protect against replication stress

    Watts, L. P., Natsume, T., Saito, Y., Garzon, J., Dong, Q., Boteva, L., Gilbert, N., Kanemaki, M. T., Hiraga, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    eLife, vol. 9, e58020
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]
    • [ONLINE]

  • Genome-wide analysis of DNA replication timing in single cells: Yes! We're all individuals

    Donaldson, A. D., Nieduszynski, C. A.
    Genome Biology, vol. 20, 111
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE]

  • Human RIF1-Protein Phosphatase 1 Prevents Degradation and Breakage of Nascent DNA on Replication Stalling

    Garzón, J., Ursich, S., Lopes, M., Hiraga, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    Cell Reports, vol. 27, no. 9, pp. 2558-2566.e4
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE]

  • Identification of Elg1 interaction partners and effects on post-replication chromatin re-formation

    Gali, V. K., Dickerson, D., Katou, Y., Fujiki, K., Shirahige, K., Owen-Hughes, T., Kubota, T., Donaldson, A. D.
    PLoS Genetics, vol. 14, no. 11, e1007783
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Budding yeast Rif1 binds to replication origins and protects DNA at blocked replication forks

    Hiraga, S., Monerawela, C., Katou, Y., Shaw, S., Clark, K. R. M., Shirahige, K., Donaldson, A. D.
    EMBO reports, vol. 19, no. 9, e46222
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]
    • [ONLINE]

  • Rif1 acts through Protein Phosphatase 1 but independent of replication timing to suppress telomere extension in budding yeast

    Kedziora, S., Gali, V. K., Wilson, R. H. C., Clark, K. R. M., Nieduszynski, C. A., Hiraga, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 46, no. 8, pp. 3993-4003
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Human RIF1 and protein phosphatase 1 stimulate DNA replication origin licensing but suppress origin activation

    Hiraga, S., Ly, T., Garzon, J., Hořejší, Z., Ohkubo, Y., Endo, A., Obuse, C., Boulton, S. J., Lamond, A. I., Donaldson, A. D.
    EMBO reports, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 403-419
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Transparency and openness in science

    Sanders, J., Blundy, J., Donaldson, A., Brown, S., Ivison, R., Padgett, M., Padian, K., Rittinger, K., Rowe, K., Stace, A., Viding, E., Chambers, C., Chaplain, M.
    Royal Society Open Science, vol. 4, no. 1, 160979
    Contributions to Journals: Editorials
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [ONLINE]

  • Positive and negative control of DNA replication by human RIF1 protein: A safeguard mechanism

    Hiraga, S., Garzon, F. J. H., Donaldson, A. D.
    10th 3R International Symposium
    Contributions to Conferences: Posters

  • Protein Phosphatases and DNA Replication Initiation

    Stark, M., Hiraga, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    The Initiation of DNA Replication in Eukaryotes. Kaplan, D. L. (ed.). Springer, pp. 461-477, 17 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Replication-Coupled PCNA Unloading by the Elg1 Complex Occurs Genome-wide and Requires Okazaki Fragment Ligation

    Kubota, T., Katou, Y., Nakato, R., Shirahige, K., Donaldson, A. D.
    Cell Reports, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 774-787
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • At Short Telomeres Tel1 Directs Early Replication and Phosphorylates Rif1

    Sridhar, A., Kedziora, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    PLoS Genetics, vol. 10, no. 10, e1004691
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Rif1 controls DNA replication by directing Protein Phosphatase 1 to reverse Cdc7-mediated phosphorylation of the MCM complex

    Hiraga, S., Alvino, G. M., Chang, F., Lian, H., Sridhar, A., Kubota, T., Brewer, B. J., Weinreich, M., Raghuraman, M. K., Donaldson, A. D.
    Genes & Development, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 372-383
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Negative regulation of DNA replication by Rif1 through protein phosphatase PP-1

    Hiraga, S., Alvino, G. M., Chang, F., Lian, H., Weinreich, M., Brewer, B. J., Raghuraman, M. K., Donaldson, A. D.
    CSH Meeting "Eukaryotic DNA replication and genome maintenance"
    Contributions to Conferences: Posters

  • Is PCNA unloading the central function of the Elg1/ATAD5 replication factor C-like complex?

    Kubota, T., Myung, J., Donaldson, A. D.
    Cell Cycle, vol. 12, no. 16, pp. 2570-2579
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • The Elg1 replication factor C-like complex functions in PCNA unloading during DNA replication

    Kubota, T., Nishimura, K., Kanemaki, M. T., Donaldson, A. D.
    Molecular Cell, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 273-280
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Negative regulation of DNA replication by Rif1 through DDK

    Hiraga, S., Lian, H., Alvino, G. M., Weinreich, M., Brewer, B. J., Raghuraman, M. K., Donaldson, A. D.
    British Yeast Group Meeting 2013
    Contributions to Conferences: Posters

  • TFIIIC Localizes Budding Yeast ETC Sites to the Nuclear Periphery

    Hiraga, S., Botsios, S., Donze, D., Donaldson, A. D.
    Molecular Biology of the Cell, vol. 23, no. 14, pp. 2741-2754
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Quantitative proteomic analysis of yeast DNA replication proteins

    Kubota, T., Stead, D. A., Hiraga, S., ten Have, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    Methods, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 196-202
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Quantitative proteomic analysis of chromatin reveals that Ctf18 acts in the DNA replication checkpoint

    Kubota, T., Hiraga, S., Yamada, K., Lamond, A. I., Donaldson, A. D.
    Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, vol. 10, no. 7, M110 005561
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • The effect of Ku on telomere replication time is mediated by telomere length but is independent of histone tail acetylation

    Lian, H., Robertson, E. D., Hiraga, S., Alvino, G. M., Collingwood, D., McCune, H. J., Sridhar, A., Brewer, B. J., Raghuraman, M. K., Donaldson, A. D.
    Molecular Biology of the Cell, vol. 22, no. 10, pp. 1753-1756
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Limiting replication initiation factors execute the temporal programme of origin firing in budding yeast

    Mantiero, D., Mackenzie, A., Donaldson, A. D., Zegerman, P.
    EMBO Journal, vol. 30, no. 23, pp. 4805-4814
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Early initiation of a replication origin tethered at the nuclear periphery

    Ebrahimi, H., Robertson, E. D., Taddei, A., Gasser, S. M., Donaldson, A. D., Hiraga, S.
    Journal of Cell Science, vol. 123, pp. 1015-1019
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Detection of replication origins using comparative genomics and recombinational ARS assay

    Nieduszynski, C. A., Donaldson, A. D.
    DNA Replication: Methods and Protocols. Vengrova, S., Dalgaard, J. Z. (eds.). Humana Press, pp. 295-313, 19 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [ONLINE]

  • Release of yeast telomeres from the nuclear periphery is triggered by replication and maintained by suppression of Ku-mediated anchoring

    Ebrahimi, H., Donaldson, A. D.
    Genes & Development, vol. 22, no. 23, pp. 3363-3374
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Histone H3 lysine 56 acetylation by Rtt109 is crucial for chromosome positioning

    Hiraga, S., Botsios, S., Donaldson, A. D.
    Journal of Cell Biology, vol. 183, no. 4, pp. 641-651
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • OriDB: a DNA replication origin database

    Nieduszynski, C. A., Hiraga, S., Ak, P., Benham, C. J., Donaldson, A. D.
    Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 35, no. Database Issue, pp. D40-D46
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Genome-wide identification of replication origins in yeast by comparative genomics

    Nieduszynski, C. A., Knox, Y., Donaldson, A. D.
    Genes & Development, vol. 20, no. 14, pp. 1874-1879
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • The Ctf18 RFC-like complex positions yeast telomeres but does not specify their replication time

    Hiraga, S., Robertson, E. D., Donaldson, A. D.
    EMBO Journal, vol. 25, no. 7, pp. 1505-1514
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • The requirement of yeast replication origins for pre-replication complex proteins is modulated by transcription

    Nieduszynski, C. A., Blow, J. J., Donaldson, A. D.
    Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 33, no. 8, pp. 2410-2420
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Shaping time: chromatin structure and the DNA replication programme

    Donaldson, A. D.
    Trends in Genetics, vol. 21, pp. 444-449
    Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • DNA replication: telling time with microarrays

    McCune, H. J., Donaldson, A. D.
    Genome Biology, vol. 4, no. 2
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Ku complex controls the replication time of DNA in telomere regions

    Cosgrove, A., Nieduszynski, C. A., Donaldson, A. D.
    Genes & Development, vol. 16, no. 19, pp. 2485-2490
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • DNA replication: stable driving prevents fatal smashes

    Donaldson, A. D., Blow, J. J.
    Current Biology, vol. 11, no. 23, pp. R979-82
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Eukaryotic DNA Replication: from ORC to fork

    Nieduszynski, C. A., Donaldson, A. D., Blow, J. J.
    Genome Biology, vol. 2, pp. 4030.1-4030.3
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

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