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Asifa Akhtar

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Asifa Akhtar
Born
Asifa Akhtar

Karachi, Pakistan
Alma materUniversity College London (BSc) Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now part of The Francis Crick Institute) (PhD)
Known forStudy of Chromatin Regulation, Basilicata-Akhtar Syndrome
AwardsLeibniz Prize
Scientific career
FieldsChromatin Regulation
InstitutionsMax Planck Institute of Immunology and Epigenetics
Richard Treisman

Asifa Akhtar is a Germany-based biologist born in Pakistan, who has made significant contributions to the field of epigenetics, particularly chromatin regulation.[1] She is Senior Group Leader and Director of the Department of Chromatin Regulation at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics[2] and Vice President of the Max Planck Society. Akhtar was awarded EMBO membership in 2013,[3] membership in the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2019,[4] and the Royal Society foreign membership in 2025.[5] She has also received the Leibniz Prize in 2021,[6] the International Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2023,[7] and the Baden-Württemberg Order of Merit in 2026.[8] Akhtar became the first international and female vice president of the Max Planck Society's Biology and Medicine Section in July 2020[9] and was re-elected for a second term in 2023.[10] In 2022, Asifa Akhtar was appointed Honorary Professor of the Medical Faculty of the University of Freiburg.[11]

Academic career

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Asifa Akhtar was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and studied biology at University College London. She graduated with a BSc in 1993 and took up doctoral studies at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now part of the Francis Crick Institute), investigating transcriptional regulation in the lab of Richard Treisman. She completed her PhD in 1997. Akhtar's postdoctoral studies in chromatin regulation were carried out in Peter Becker's lab at European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg and the Adolf Butenandt Institute, Munich.[12] Akhtar became a Group Leader at EMBL in 2001, moving to the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg in 2009, where she heads her own lab in Chromatin Regulation.[13] On July 1, 2020, she was elected Vice President of the Max Planck Society's Biology and Medicine Section as the first international woman to ever hold this position.[9] In June 2023, Akhtar was re-elected as Vice President for a term of six years.[10]

Research interests

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Asifa Akhtar's research focuses on the study of chromatin and epigenetic mechanisms. Akhtar's work has advanced our understanding of how gene expression is regulated through histone post-translational modifications and non-coding RNAs. Asifa Akhtar's research focuses on the lysine acetyltransferase MOF (also known as KAT8) and its two major protein assemblies, the male-specific lethal (MSL) complex and the non-specific lethal (NSL) complex,[14][15][16] to uncover how epigenetic enzymes regulate gene expression through both chromatin-based and non-chromatin mechanisms.

Asifa Akhtar's laboratory focuses on the concept of gene dosage. Among her most influential contributions are her studies on the Drosophila melanogaster dosage compensation system, which balances X-linked gene expression between male and female fruit flies.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] Dosage compensation serves as a model for how targeted histone modifications can translate to large-scale transcriptional upregulation. Asifa Akhtar has made multiple discoveries into how the MSL complex is able to specifically localize to and subsequently hyperactivate the single male X chromosome to achieve transcriptional parity with the two X chromosomes in females. In order to understand this, a major effort in her lab has been to study the contribution of the long non-coding roX RNAs (roX1 and roX2) in male X-chromosome targeting.[24][25][26][27][28]

Extending these concepts to mammals, Asifa Akhtar also showed that the MSL complex component MSL2 finetunes transcription of dosage-sensitive genes in mammals. MSL2 loss perturbs expression of several disease-associated haploinsufficient genes, preventing them from being able to achieve biallelic expression.[29]

In collaboration with clinicians, Asifa Akhtar's team have furthermore uncovered that mutations in MSL complex members lead to human disease. They showed that mutations in MSL3 lead to Basilicata-Akhtar Syndrome[30] and mutations in MSL2 lead to Karayol-Borroto-Haghshenas neurodevelopmental syndrome,[31] both of which are classified as neurodevelopmental disorders.

Beyond transcriptional regulation, Asifa Akhtar's research has also uncovered diverse non-canonical roles for the MOF-containing complexes. Her group was able to show that MOF as part of the NSL complex acetylates prelamin-A/C to maintain nuclear lamina integrity as well as the mitochondrial protein COX17 to facilitate oxidative respiration.[32][33]

In a separate line of research, Asifa Akhtar also studies the RNA helicase DHX9. Her work revealed a novel UV-induced RNA damage stress response, in which damaged RNAs are sequestered into cytoplasmic stress granules where the RNA helicase DHX9 is able to resolve double-stranded Alu elements to preserve the viability of daughter cells.[34][35]

Awards and honors

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References

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  1. ↑ "What 10,000 fruit flies have to tell us about differences between the sexes". ScienceDaily. 19 July 2012. Retrieved 2019-06-03.
  2. ↑ "Management Board". www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
  3. 1 2 "EMBO announces new members for 2013". EMBO. Archived from the original on April 17, 2016. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
  4. ↑ "New member of the Leopoldina". www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
  5. 1 2 "Asifa Akhtar elected foreign member of the Royal Society". www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
  6. 1 2 "Asifa Akhtar receives 2021 Leibniz Prize". www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
  7. 1 2 "EIHS Medalists". medalists.eihonors.org. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
  8. 1 2 "Asifa Akhtar honored Baden-Württemberg's Order of Merit". www.cibss.uni-freiburg.de. 2026-03-27. Retrieved 2026-04-01.
  9. 1 2 "New team, new Ideas". mpg.de. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  10. 1 2 "Asifa Akhtar re-elected as Vice President of the MPG". www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
  11. ↑ "Honorary professorship for Asifa Akhtar". www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
  12. ↑ "Team". www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
  13. ↑ "Laboratory Asifa Akhtar". www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
  14. ↑ Mendjan, Sascha; Taipale, Mikko; Kind, Jop; Holz, Herbert; Gebhardt, Philipp; Schelder, Malgorzata; Vermeulen, Michiel; Buscaino, Alessia; Duncan, Kent; Mueller, Juerg; Wilm, Matthias; Stunnenberg, Henk G.; Saumweber, Harald; Akhtar, Asifa (March 2006). "Nuclear Pore Components Are Involved in the Transcriptional Regulation of Dosage Compensation in Drosophila". Molecular Cell. 21 (6): 811–823. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2006.02.007. ISSN 1097-2765. PMID 16543150.
  15. ↑ Raja, Sunil Jayaramaiah; Charapitsa, Iryna; Conrad, Thomas; Vaquerizas, Juan M.; Gebhardt, Philipp; Holz, Herbert; Kadlec, Jan; Fraterman, Sven; Luscombe, Nicholas M.; Akhtar, Asifa (June 2010). "The Nonspecific Lethal Complex Is a Transcriptional Regulator in Drosophila". Molecular Cell. 38 (6): 827–841. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2010.05.021. ISSN 1097-2765. PMID 20620954.
  16. ↑ Chelmicki, Tomasz; Dündar, Friederike; Turley, Matthew James; Khanam, Tasneem; Aktas, Tugce; Ramírez, Fidel; Gendrel, Anne-Valerie; Wright, Patrick Rudolf; Videm, Pavankumar; Backofen, Rolf; Heard, Edith; Manke, Thomas; Akhtar, Asifa (2014-05-19). "MOF-associated complexes ensure stem cell identity and Xist repression". eLife. 3 e02024. doi:10.7554/eLife.02024. ISSN 2050-084X. PMC 4059889. PMID 24842875.
  17. ↑ Akhtar, Asifa; Becker, Peter B (February 2000). "Activation of Transcription through Histone H4 Acetylation by MOF, an Acetyltransferase Essential for Dosage Compensation in Drosophila". Molecular Cell. 5 (2): 367–375. doi:10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80431-1. ISSN 1097-2765. PMID 10882077.
  18. ↑ Kind, Jop; Vaquerizas, Juan M.; Gebhardt, Philipp; Gentzel, Marc; Luscombe, Nicholas M.; Bertone, Paul; Akhtar, Asifa (May 2008). "Genome-wide Analysis Reveals MOF as a Key Regulator of Dosage Compensation and Gene Expression in Drosophila". Cell. 133 (5): 813–828. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2008.04.036. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 18510926.
  19. ↑ Kadlec, Jan; Hallacli, Erinc; Lipp, Michael; Holz, Herbert; Sanchez-Weatherby, Juan; Cusack, Stephen; Akhtar, Asifa (February 2011). "Structural basis for MOF and MSL3 recruitment into the dosage compensation complex by MSL1". Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 18 (2): 142–149. doi:10.1038/nsmb.1960. ISSN 1545-9985. PMID 21217699.
  20. ↑ "Science". AAAS. doi:10.1126/science.1221428. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
  21. ↑ Hallacli, Erinc; Lipp, Michael; Georgiev, Plamen; Spielman, Clare; Cusack, Stephen; Akhtar, Asifa; Kadlec, Jan (November 2012). "Msl1-Mediated Dimerization of the Dosage Compensation Complex Is Essential for Male X-Chromosome Regulation in Drosophila". Molecular Cell. 48 (4): 587–600. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2012.09.014. ISSN 1097-2765. PMID 23084835.
  22. ↑ Ramírez, Fidel; Lingg, Thomas; Toscano, Sarah; Lam, Kin Chung; Georgiev, Plamen; Chung, Ho-Ryun; Lajoie, Bryan R.; de Wit, Elzo; Zhan, Ye; de Laat, Wouter; Dekker, Job; Manke, Thomas; Akhtar, Asifa (October 2015). "High-Affinity Sites Form an Interaction Network to Facilitate Spreading of the MSL Complex across the X Chromosome in Drosophila". Molecular Cell. 60 (1): 146–162. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2015.08.024. ISSN 1097-2765. PMC 4806858. PMID 26431028.
  23. ↑ Samata, Maria; Alexiadis, Anastasios; Richard, Gautier; Georgiev, Plamen; Nuebler, Johannes; Kulkarni, Tanvi; Renschler, Gina; Basilicata, M. Felicia; Zenk, Fides Lea; Shvedunova, Maria; Semplicio, Giuseppe; Mirny, Leonid; Iovino, Nicola; Akhtar, Asifa (July 2020). "Intergenerationally Maintained Histone H4 Lysine 16 Acetylation Is Instructive for Future Gene Activation". Cell. 182 (1): 127–144.e23. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.05.026. hdl:21.11116/0000-0006-85DF-9. ISSN 0092-8674.
  24. ↑ Ilik, Ibrahim Avsar; Quinn, Jeffrey J.; Georgiev, Plamen; Tavares-Cadete, Filipe; Maticzka, Daniel; Toscano, Sarah; Wan, Yue; Spitale, Robert C.; Luscombe, Nicholas; Backofen, Rolf; Chang, Howard Y.; Akhtar, Asifa (July 2013). "Tandem Stem-Loops in roX RNAs Act Together to Mediate X Chromosome Dosage Compensation in Drosophila". Molecular Cell. 51 (2): 156–173. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2013.07.001. ISSN 1097-2765. PMC 3804161. PMID 23870142.
  25. ↑ Quinn, Jeffrey J.; Ilik, Ibrahim A.; Qu, Kun; Georgiev, Plamen; Chu, Ci; Akhtar, Asifa; Chang, Howard Y. (September 2014). "Revealing long noncoding RNA architecture and functions using domain-specific chromatin isolation by RNA purification". Nature Biotechnology. 32 (9): 933–940. doi:10.1038/nbt.2943. ISSN 1546-1696. PMC 4175979. PMID 24997788.
  26. ↑ Quinn, Jeffrey J.; Zhang, Qiangfeng C.; Georgiev, Plamen; Ilik, Ibrahim A.; Akhtar, Asifa; Chang, Howard Y. (2016-01-15). "Rapid evolutionary turnover underlies conserved lncRNA–genome interactions". Genes & Development. 30 (2): 191–207. doi:10.1101/gad.272187.115. ISSN 0890-9369. PMC 4719309. PMID 26773003.
  27. ↑ Ilik, Ibrahim Avsar; Maticzka, Daniel; Georgiev, Plamen; Gutierrez, Noel Marie; Backofen, Rolf; Akhtar, Asifa (2017-10-01). "A mutually exclusive stem–loop arrangement in roX2 RNA is essential for X-chromosome regulation in Drosophila". Genes & Development. 31 (19): 1973–1987. doi:10.1101/gad.304600.117. ISSN 0890-9369. PMID 29066499.
  28. ↑ Valsecchi, Claudia Isabelle Keller; Marois, Eric; Basilicata, M. Felicia; Georgiev, Plamen; Akhtar, Asifa (2021-09-01). "Distinct mechanisms mediate X chromosome dosage compensation in Anopheles and Drosophila". Life Science Alliance. 4 (9) e202000996. doi:10.26508/lsa.202000996. ISSN 2575-1077. PMC 8321682. PMID 34266874.
  29. ↑ Sun, Yidan; Wiese, Meike; Hmadi, Raed; Karayol, Remzi; Seyfferth, Janine; Martinez Greene, Juan Alfonso; Erdogdu, Niyazi Umut; Deboutte, Ward; Arrigoni, Laura; Holz, Herbert; Renschler, Gina; Hirsch, Naama; Foertsch, Arion; Basilicata, Maria Felicia; Stehle, Thomas (December 2023). "MSL2 ensures biallelic gene expression in mammals". Nature. 624 (7990): 173–181. Bibcode:2023Natur.624..173S. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06781-3. ISSN 1476-4687.
  30. ↑ Basilicata, M. Felicia; Bruel, Ange-Line; Semplicio, Giuseppe; Valsecchi, Claudia Isabelle Keller; Aktaş, Tuğçe; Duffourd, Yannis; Rumpf, Tobias; Morton, Jenny; Bache, Iben; Szymanski, Witold G.; Gilissen, Christian; Vanakker, Olivier; Õunap, Katrin; Mittler, Gerhard; van der Burgt, Ineke (October 2018). "De novo mutations in MSL3 cause an X-linked syndrome marked by impaired histone H4 lysine 16 acetylation". Nature Genetics. 50 (10): 1442–1451. doi:10.1038/s41588-018-0220-y. ISSN 1546-1718. PMC 7398719. PMID 30224647.
  31. ↑ Karayol, Remzi; Borroto, Maria Carla; Haghshenas, Sadegheh; Namasivayam, Anoja; Reilly, Jack; Levy, Michael A.; Relator, Raissa; Kerkhof, Jennifer; McConkey, Haley; Shvedunova, Maria; Petersen, Andrea K.; Magnussen, Kari; Zweier, Christiane; Vasileiou, Georgia; Reis, André (2024-07-11). "MSL2 variants lead to a neurodevelopmental syndrome with lack of coordination, epilepsy, specific dysmorphisms, and a distinct episignature". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 111 (7): 1330–1351. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2024.05.001. ISSN 0002-9297. PMID 38815585.
  32. ↑ Karoutas, Adam; Szymanski, Witold; Rausch, Tobias; Guhathakurta, Sukanya; Rog-Zielinska, Eva A.; Peyronnet, Remi; Seyfferth, Janine; Chen, Hui-Ru; de Leeuw, Rebecca; Herquel, Benjamin; Kimura, Hiroshi; Mittler, Gerhard; Kohl, Peter; Medalia, Ohad; Korbel, Jan O. (October 2019). "The NSL complex maintains nuclear architecture stability via lamin A/C acetylation". Nature Cell Biology. 21 (10): 1248–1260. doi:10.1038/s41556-019-0397-z. ISSN 1476-4679. PMID 31576060.
  33. ↑ Guhathakurta, Sukanya; Erdogdu, Niyazi Umut; Hoffmann, Juliane J.; Grzadzielewska, Iga; Schendzielorz, Alexander; Seyfferth, Janine; Mårtensson, Christoph U.; Corrado, Mauro; Karoutas, Adam; Warscheid, Bettina; Pfanner, Nikolaus; Becker, Thomas; Akhtar, Asifa (November 2023). "COX17 acetylation via MOF–KANSL complex promotes mitochondrial integrity and function". Nature Metabolism. 5 (11): 1931–1952. doi:10.1038/s42255-023-00904-w. ISSN 2522-5812.
  34. ↑ Aktaş, Tuğçe; Avşar Ilık, İbrahim; Maticzka, Daniel; Bhardwaj, Vivek; Pessoa Rodrigues, Cecilia; Mittler, Gerhard; Manke, Thomas; Backofen, Rolf; Akhtar, Asifa (April 2017). "DHX9 suppresses RNA processing defects originating from the Alu invasion of the human genome". Nature. 544 (7648): 115–119. Bibcode:2017Natur.544..115A. doi:10.1038/nature21715. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 28355180.
  35. ↑ Zhou, Yilong; Panhale, Amol; Shvedunova, Maria; Balan, Mirela; Gomez-Auli, Alejandro; Holz, Herbert; Seyfferth, Janine; Helmstädter, Martin; Kayser, Séverine; Zhao, Yuling; Erdogdu, Niyazi Umut; Grzadzielewska, Iga; Mittler, Gerhard; Manke, Thomas; Akhtar, Asifa (2024-03-28). "RNA damage compartmentalization by DHX9 stress granules". Cell. 187 (7): 1701–1718.e28. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2024.02.028. ISSN 0092-8674.
  36. ↑ "EMBL news letter 2008" (PDF).
  37. ↑ "Prizewinners of the Feldberg Foundation". www.feldbergfoundation.org. Archived from the original on 2019-05-11. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
  38. ↑ "Asifa Akhtar". German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  39. ↑ "Asifa Akhtar receives 2022 Christa Šerić-Geiger Award". www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
  40. ↑ "Women in Science - FEBS". FEBS. 4 August 2022.
[edit]
  • The laboratory of Asifa Akhtar at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics.
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