Glauco P. Tocchini-Valentini
National Research Council of Italy
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Primary Section: 21, Biochemistry Secondary Section: 22, Cellular and Developmental Biology Membership Type:
International Member
(elected 2009)
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Research Interests
Glauco P. Tocchini-Valentini has worked for over forty years in the field of molecular biology. His early scientific contributions include the demonstration that genetic transcription is an asymmetric process. Using alpha-DNA, the genome of a bacteriophage isolated from Tiber's waters, he showed that only one strand of DNA is copied for each unit of transcription. He then utilized tritiated precursor-induced suicide to isolate three sets of temperature-sensitive mutants blocked in DNA, RNA and protein syntheses, respectively. At the end of the Sixties, he contributed to the isolation and characterization of both RNA and DNA polymerases of Xenopus laevis, the isolation of the full transcript of the rDNA cistron (a possible template for the synthesis of amplified DNA) and the discovery of TypeII DNA topoisomerase. More recently, the study of RNase P and tRNA splicing endonuclease from Xenopus germinal vesicles led him to contribute to understanding the rules governing enzyme-substrate interactions and the determination of cleavage sites in tRNA precursors. The latter work has led to a general scheme for targeting of individual mRNAs in eukaryotes. He has coordinated the coordination and establishment of the A. Buzzati-Traverso International Campus, in Monterotondo (Rome), with CNR’s new core infrastructures of the European Mouse Mutant Archive (EMMA) and Mouse Clinic, in collaboration with the leading international biomedical research institutions. The integrated Monterotondo infrastructures are devoted to the systematic and standardized production, primary phenotypic analysis, archiving and world-wide dissemination of novel mutant models of human diseases and operate in the context of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) global initiative.
