Our research interest has focused on structure-function studies of proteins using high-resolution solution NMR, circular dichroism (CD) and fluorescence spectroscopy techniques. It is amazing to see the relationship between the primary sequence of a protein to its 3-dimensional structure that defines specificity as well as diversity in its functions and how even a point mutation can sometimes disrupt or modify the functions of a protein causing in many instances abnormalities or diseases. To get a view of protein structure, function and mode of interactions at a molecular level, we use high resolution solution NMR, circular dichorism (CD), fluorescence techniques along with biochemical, molecular biology (cloning, mutagenesis) and computational chemistry.
Thus molecular biology, biochemistry, protein chemistry, biophysical chemistry (NMR and other techniques) and computational chemistry are used in our laboratory to understand and correlate the structure-functions of both soluble and membrane bound proteins. Several projects are currently in progress in our laboratory. Research work in our laboratory is supported by funding from NSF, USDA and NIH.
Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation
We are investigating the molecular mechanisms of function of an extremely important eukaryotic membrane bound enzyme “oligosaccharyltransferase (OST)”. Oligosaccharyltransferase is a membrane associated multimeric enzyme located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and is involved in co-translational N-linked glycosylation of nascent protein. Genetic defects in OST cause a series of clinical problems known as congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) that includes mental retardation, developmental delay, hypoglycemia, dysmorphic features, anorexia etc. Complete loss is lethal for all animals. Our group is actively involved in the structure-function studies of both yeast and human Oligosaccharyltransferase enzymes. The 3-dimensional structures of proteins are essentially “blueprints” for the development of a chemical compound to be a successful drug. Our group has already solved the 3-dimensional solution structure of the first eukaryotic yeast OST subunit, Ost4p (shown below).