Biophysics Seminar- “Capturing Protein Structural Dynamics at Atomic Resolution: Beyond Crystal Lattice” with Prof. Xiaojing Yang
Biophysics Seminar
March 29, 2024
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location
SES 2214
Calendar
Download iCal FileCapturing Protein Structural Dynamics at Atomic Resolution: Beyond Crystal Lattice
Prof. Xiaojing Yang
Department of Chemistry, UIC
Phytochromes are a superfamily of bilin-based photoreceptors that mediate a wide range of light responses in plants, fungi and bacteria. Despite extensive studies, the molecular mechanisms of light signaling and allosteric activation remain largely elusive in the absence of full-length photoreceptor structures representing different signaling states. To address this challenge, we tackle representative photoreceptor kinases using an integrated approach of biochemistry, spectroscopy, mutagenesis and structural biology. Specifically, we harness dynamic crystallography and single particle cryo-electron microscopy to provoke, probe and resolve the functionally relevant structural dynamics in the truncated photosensory domains and full-length proteins. In this talk, I will present our crystallography and cryoEM observations at atomic resolution that shed light on the long-sought-after mechanism of allostery underlying the "action-at-distance” phenomenon. These findings have implications beyond photosynthesis and photoreceptors, and promise to offer optogenetic solutions for biomedicine and renewable energy research.
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Date posted
Jan 18, 2024
Date updated
Mar 27, 2024