TODD O. YEATES

Professor; BS, University of California, Los Angeles; PhD, University of California, Los Angeles; Postdoctoral Fellow, Scripps Research Institute; NSF Presidential Young Investigator.

RESEARCH

Our research efforts are aimed at determining and analyzing the three-dimensional structures of proteins in order to understand their function at an atomic level. In the experimental aspect of this work, we are determining the crystal structures of a variety of proteins, several of which are important in photosynthetic processes. In one study, we are comparing the structures of cytochrome c6 and plastocyanin as a model for convergent evolution, especially of similar surface features; these two very different proteins can substitute for each other in algae by interacting with the same electron transfer partners. We are also studying components of the oxygen evolving complex (OEC) and have crystallized transmembrane components of bacterial light harvesting complexes (LHC). In addition, we are working on other protein systems, including members of the neurotrophin nerve growth factor family, and kinases and phosphatases involved in signal transduction pathways.

The remainder of our efforts are theoretical or computational and address the problems of protein structure prediction and molecular recognition or 'docking'. We are developing sensitive methods for discriminating between correct and incorrect protein models as a partial solution to the prediction problem and we hope to simplify the problem of predicting modes of macromolecular association by developing new methods for describing surface geometry. Finally, we hope to expedite the process of crystal structure determination through theoretical and computational methods.

Yeates Research Group

KEY WORDS

Biochemistry: protein structure and function; X-ray crystallography; electron and energy transfer in photosynthetic systems; computational approaches to problems of protein folding and recognition.