Dr. Jarrod French from the Hormel Institute, U. of Minnesota. will be visiting campus, presenting a seminar and meeting with faculty, students and staff. 

Intra- and inter-protein signal transduction mechanisms in the Blue Light Using FAD protein BlsA

The Blue-Light Using FAD (BLUF) domain proteins belong to a class of photoreceptors that mediate biological responses to light and are implicated in biofilm formation. The details of the intra- and inter-protein signal transduction mechanisms are poorly understood for this photoreceptor. Using the BLUF-domain protein from A. baumanii (BlsA), we solved X-ray crystal structures of a ground state and photoactivated state and identified significant conformational changes that occur upon photoactivation. We also identified a new BlsA binding partner, BfmR, that directly links photoactivation to biofilm regulation. We are currently using a combination of structural, spectroscopic and biophysical approaches to determine how the ultrafast photoreception signal is transmitted through the protein and converted into a slower timescale structural change that ultimately leads to the downstream biological output. We are also developing a surface-acousticwave based technology to allow us to manipulate protein crystals for efficient serial crystallography experiments. We plan to use this technology to capture time-resolved images of the structural rearrangements that occur during the BlsA photocycle