MBIG is kind of a namesake of MPIG (MetelloProtein Interest Group) at the University of Minnesota where I spent 3 years as a postdoc working on iron proteins (including Fe-superoxide dismutase, isopenicillin N synthase, purple acid phosphatases, and ribonucleotide reductase) and Fe complexes (including Fe-bleomycin and synthetic Fe complexes) in Professor Lawrence Que's group. To reflect the projects that we have been working on in the group, i.e., metalloproteins, metalloantibiotics, metallopeptides, metal-centered hydrolysis, and metal-DNA chemistry, the acronym MBIG (MetalloBiomolecule Interest Group) finally came out that everyone liked. Here is a list of the group members in the MBIG:
Current Members:
Graduate students:
Vasiliki Lykourinou-Tibbs, who has been working on homogeneous and
heterogeneous catalyses, including the hydrolysis and oxidation chemistry
of metalloresins and metallopolymers. The results from the study of the oxidative
activities of metallopolymers suggest a catechol oxidase-like mechanism for
the catalysis. This mechanism seems to be also applicable to the oxidation
activity of metallopeptides observed in our group.
Lykourinou-Tibbs, V.; Ercan, A.; Ming, L.-J. “Iron(III)-Chelex
Resin Complex as a Prototypical Heterogeneous Catalyst for Phosphoester
Hydrolysis” Catal. Commun. 2003, 4, 549–553. (abstract
)
Hanafy, A. I.; Lykourinou-Tibbs, V.; Bisht, K. S. Ming, L.-J.
“Effective Heterogeneous Hydrolysis of Phosphodiester by Pyridine-Containing
Metallopolymers” Inorg. Chim. Acta.
2005, 358, 1247–1252. (abstract
)
Giordano da Silva has been working
on the expression of a metalloprotease (BP10) from the sea urchin embryos
during the blastura stage. BP10 contains an active domain analogous
to astacin.
The cDNA has been inserted into bacterial plasmid and the whole protein and
a truncated protein of the active domain have been expressed in active forms
and their kinetic behaviors determined. In the meantime, Gio is using
his excellent molecular biology skills to clone and express the aminopeptidase
from Streptomyces. Other than
molecular biology, Gio is very familiar in kinetics of enzymes and biomimetic
systems. The study of the oxidative activity of metallo-β-amylopid
has yielded interesting results which allow a catechol oxidase-like mechanism
of the catalysis to be proposed.
da Silva, G. F. Z.; Tay, W. M.; Ming, L.-J. “Catechol Oxidase-Like
Oxidation Chemistry of the 1–20 and 1–16 Fragments of Alzheimer’s Disease-Related
β-Amyloid Peptide: Their Structure-Activity Correlation and the Fate of
Hydrogen Peroxide” J. Biol. Chem.
2005, 280, 16601-16609. (abstract)
da Silva, G. F. Z.; Tay, W. M.; Ming, L.-J. “Alzheimer’s Disease-Related
Copper(II)-β-Amyloid Peptide Exhibits Phenol Monooxygenase and Catechol Oxidase
Activities” Angew. Chem. 2005, in press. (abstract)
William Tay has focused on NMR
study of metallobiomolecules. He is currently working on structural
assignment of metallobacitracin and metallo-β-amyloids. William is
also using kinetic methods to the the study of the magnetically coupled di-Cu
derivative of Streptomyces aminopeptidase
and phenol/polyphenol oxidation by metallopeptides.
da Silva, G. F. Z.; Tay, W. M.; Ming, L.-J. “Catechol Oxidase-Like
Oxidation Chemistry of the 1–20 and 1–16 Fragments of Alzheimer’s Disease-Related
β-Amyloid Peptide: Their Structure-Activity Correlation and the Fate of
Hydrogen Peroxide” J. Biol. Chem.
2005, 280, 16601-16609. (abstract)
Kashmir Junaja has been working on kinetic study of the hydrolytic catalysis by metallopolymers. His thesis project will focus on kinetic and thermodynamic studies of the hydrolytic and oxidative activities of some metallopeptides designed on the basis of the metal-binding motifs of metalloenzymes.
Undergraduates: Former Graduate Students:
Xiangdong (David) Wei, Ph.D.
(now at Washington Mutual, Chicago), who was working on the antitumor
antibiotics anthracyclines and streptonigrin and on the heme domain of nitrate
reductase.
Awards:
Summer Fellowship, Institute for Biomolecular Science, USF (1994, 1995)
Departmental "Ashford Award" for outstanding graduate student (1995)
Publications:
Ming, L.-J.; Wei, X. "An Ytterbium(III) Complex of
Daunomycin, a Model Metal Complex of Anthracycline Antibiotics" Inorg.
Chem. 1994, 33, 4617-4618. (abstract
5)
Wei, X; Ming, L.-J.; Cannons, A. C.; Solomonson,
L. P. "1H and 13C
NMR Studies of a Truncated Heme Domain from Chlorella vulgaris
Nitrate Reductase: Signal Assignment of the Heme Moiety" Biochim.
Biophys. Acta 1998, 1382, 129-136. (abstract
11)
Wei, X.; Ming, L.-J. "Comprehensive 2D 1H NMR Studies of Paramagnetic Lanthanide(III) Complexes
of Anthracycline Antitumor Antibiotics" Inorg. Chem. 1998,
37, 2255-2262. (abstract
12)
Wei, X.; Ming, L.-J.* "NMR Studies of Metal Complexes
and DNA Binding of the Quinone-Containing Antibiotic Streptonigrin" J.
Chem. Soc. Dalton Trans. 1998, 2793-2798. (abstract
15)
Jon Epperson, Ph.D.,
(postdoc at Department of Chemistry, Florida State University; then to George Washington Universty
pursuing a law degree) who was working on the use of paramagnetic
metal ions as NMR probes for the study of the metalloantibiotic peptide
bacitracin and derivatives, tri-Zn phospholipase C, and metallodendrimers.
Awards:
Summer Fellowship, Institute for Biomolecular Science, USF (1994, 1995)
USF Graduate Council Outstanding Dissertation Award (2000)
Publication:
Epperson, J. D.; Ming, L.-J.; Woosley, B. D.; Baker,
G. R.; Newkome, G. R. "Analyzing the Infrastructure of Dendritic Macromolecules
Using a Paramagnetic Metal Ion NMR Probe" Inorganic Chemistry
1999, 38, 4498-4502. (abstract
19)
Epperson, J. D.; Ming, L.-J. "Proton NMR Studies
of Co(II) Complexes of Bacitracin Analogous —Insight into Structure-Activity
Relationship" Biochemistry 2000, 39, 4037–4045. (abstract
23)
Epperson, J. D.; Ming, L.-J. "Binding of Cobalt(II)
and Copper(II) to Trinuclear Phospholipase C from Bacillus cereus—
A Novel 1H NMR Spectrum of a “Tri-Cu(II)”
Center in Protein" J. Inorg. Biochem. 2001, 87, 149-156.
(
abstract 27)
Epperson, J. D.; Ming, L.-J.; Baker, G. R.; Newkome, G.
R. "Paramagnetic Cobalt(II) as an NMR Probe for Dendrimer Structure, Mobility,
and Coorperativity" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 123,
8583–8592. (abstract
28)
Ming, L.-J.; Epperson, J. D. "Metal Binding and Structure–Activity
Relationship of the Metalloantibiotic Peptide Bacitracin" J. Inorg.
Biochem. (a focused review) 2002, 91, 46–58 (abstract
30)
Hyun Ik Park, Ph.D. (was
an NSF postdoctoral fellow and an American Heart Association Postdoctoral
Fellow at the Department of Chemistry of Florida State University, currently
at R&D Systems at Minneapolis ), who was working on the unique metalloendopeptidase
astacin from crayfish and on mechanistic study of Streptomyces griseus
aminopeptidase.
Awards:
Outstanding Student Presentation Award, ACS Annual Meeting of the Florida
Section, 1995
Summer Fellowship, Institute for Biomolecular Science, USF (1995)
Departmental "Ashford Award" for outstanding graduate student (1999)
Departmental "Tharp Publication Award" (1999)
Publications:
Lin, L.-Y.; Park, H. I.; Ming, L.-J. "Metal Binding
and Active Site Structure of Di-Zinc Streptomyces griseus Aminopeptidase"
J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 1997, 2, 744-749. (abstract
10)
Park, H. I.; Ming, L.-J. "The Mechanistic Role of
the Coordinated Tyr in Astacin" J. Inorg. Biochem. 1998, 72,
57-62. (abstract
16)
Park, H. I.; Ming, L.-J. "A Novel 1010 Rate Enhancement of Phosphodiester Hydrolysis by
a Di-Zinc Aminopeptidase– Transition State Analogues as Substrates?" Angew.
Chem. Intl. Engl. Ed. 1999, 38, 2914-2916. (abstract
21)
Hasselgren, C.; Park, H. I.; Ming, L.-J. "Metal Ion
Binding and Activation of Streptomyces griseus Aminopeptidase —Cadmium(II)
Binding as a Model" J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 2001, 6,
120–127. (abstract
24)
Ercan, A.; Park, H. I.; Ming, L.-J. "Remarkable Enhancement
of the Hydrolyses of Phosphoesters by Dimetal Centers —Streptomyces
Aminopeptidase as a “Natural Model System”" Chem. Commun. 2000,
2501–2502. (abstract
25)
Park, H. I.; Ming, L.-J. "Mechanistic Studies of
the Astacin-like Serratia Metalloendopeptidase Serralysin —Highly Active
(>2,000%) Co(II)- and Cu(II)-Substituted Derivatives for Further Corroboration
of a 'Metallotriad' Mechanism" J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 2002,
7, 600–610. (abstract
29)
Jason Palcic, Ph. D. (postdoctoral
reserach/lecturer at the Department of Chemistry, University of Memphis
and is now the Chemical Terrarism Coordinator at the Florida Department of
Health), who has been working on the use of 2D NMR techniques for the
study of paramagnetic mitramycin-Co(II)-DNA complexes which exhibit "high
resolution" hyperfine-shifted 1H NMR
spectra, and on P-31 NMR study of nitrate reductase.
Publication:
Palcic, J. D.; Ming, L.-J.; Barber, M. J. “31P
NMR Spectroscopy of the Flavin Domain of Assimilatory Nitrate Reductase”
in preparation
Palcic, J. D.; Ming, L.-J. "'High Resolution" 1H
NMR Study of Paramagnetic Metallobiomolecules: Mithramycin-Co(II)-DNA
ternary complex as an Example" in preparation
Craig Bertolucci, Ph. D. (did postdoctoral research
at the Department of Biochemistry, the Ohio State University as a postdoctoral
associate and is now at the St. Jude Children's Hospital), who has
been working on the use of paramagnetic metal ions as NMR probes for the
study of the metalloproteins parvalbumin, FixL kinase, and di-Zn aminopeptidase.
Awards:
Summer Fellowship, Institute for Biomolecular Science, USF (1995)
Departmental "Outstanding First-Year Graduate Student" Award (1994)
Departmental "Ashford Award" for outstanding graduate student (1997)
Publication:
Bertolucci, C.; Ming, L.-J.; Gonzalez, G.; Gilles-Gonzalez,
M. A. "Assignment of the Hyperfine-Shifted 1H
NMR Signals of the Heme in the Oxygen Sensor FixL from Rhizobium metiloti"
Chem. Biol. 1996, 3, 561-566. (abstract
8)
Harris, M. N.; Bertolucci, C. M.; Ming, L.-J. "Paramagnetic
Cobalt(II) as a Probe for Kinetic and NMR Relaxation Studies of Phosphate
Binding and Catalytic Mechanism of Streptomyces Dinuclear Aminopeptidase"
Inorganic Chemistry 2002, 41, 5582-5588. (abstract
31)
Michael Harris, Ph.D.
(did postdoctoral research at the University of New Mexico and is not a postdoc/research
chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory) who has been studying
metal binding and activation of Streptomyces griseus aminopeptidase
as well as inhibition study of this enzyme.
Award:
Departmental "Tharp Publication Award" (2000)
Publication:
Harris, M. N.; Ming, L.-J. "Different Phosphate Binding
Modes of Streptomyces griseus Aminopeptidase between Crystal and
Solution States and the Status of Zinc-Bound Water" FEBS Lett. 1999,
455, 321-324. (abstract
22)
Harris, M. N.; Madura, J. D.; Ming, L.-J.; Harwood,
V. J. "Kinetic and Mechanistic Studies of Prolyl Oligopeptidase from the
Hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus" J. Biol. Chem.
2001, in press (abstract
26)
Harris, M. N.; Bertolucci, C. M.; Ming, L.-J.
"Paramagnetic Cobalt(II) as a Probe for Kinetic and NMR Relaxation Studies
of Phosphate Binding and Catalytic Mechanism of Streptomyces Dinuclear
Aminopeptidase" Inorganic Chemistry 2002, 41, 5582-5588. (abstract
31)
Altan Ercan, Ph.D. (Now a postdoctoral researcher at the
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Oklahoma)
who was working on the mechanism of Streptomyces griseus aminopeptidase
and its alternative catalysis toward phosphodiesters and studying metal binding
and activation of dinuclear prolidase..
Award:
Departmental "Tharp Publication Award"
Publication:
Ercan, A.; Park, H. I.; Ming, L.-J. "Remarkable Enhancement
of the Hydrolyses of Phosphoesters by Dimetal Centers —Streptomyces Aminopeptidase
as a “Natural Model System”" Chem. Commun. 2000, 2501–2502.
(abstract
25)
Lykourinou-Tibbs, V.; Ercan, A.; Ming, L.-J. “Iron(III)-Chelex
Resin Complex as a Prototypical Heterogeneous Catalyst for Phosphoester
Hydrolysis” Catal. Commun. 2003, 4, 549–553. (abstract
33)
Hong-Chu Yang (went to Emory University pursuing Ph.D.), worked on NMR study of Yb(III)-substituted parvalmunin.
Lung-Yu (Victor) Lin (M.S., now at Unilever, Taiwan),
who was working on metal binding and activation of Streptomyces griseus
aminopeptidase.
Publication:
Lin, L.-Y.; Park, H. I.; Ming, L.-J. "Metal Binding
and Active Site Structure of Di-Zinc Streptomyces griseus Aminopeptidase"
J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 1997, 2, 744-749. (abstract 10)
Visitors
from other Institutions
Ahmed Hanafy, Ph.D. (from Egypt),
who was working on the hydrolytic and oxidative activities of Cu-binding
polymers.
Hanafy, A. I.; Lykourinou-Tibbs, V.; Bisht, K. S. Ming, L.-J.
“Effective Heterogeneous Hydrolysis of Phosphodiester by Pyridine-Containing
Metallopolymers” Inorg. Chim. Acta.
2005, 358, 1247–1252. (abstract
)
Former Undergraduate students
Students with thesis:
Rosemary Keene (now in the medical school at USF), studied and
contributed to "Phosphate inhibition of Streptomyces griseus Aminopeptidase
(abstract 22)" as
her honors thesis project.
Catrin Hasselgren (Completed her Ph.D. at the Department of Inorganic
Chemistry, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, 2002 and is now a
postdoctoral researcher at AstraZeneca in Sweden) worked on Cd(II) binding and
activation of Streptomyces griseus Aminopeptidase.
Publication:
Hasselgren, C.; Park, H. I.; Ming, L.-J. "Metal Ion
Binding and Activation of Streptomyces griseus Aminopeptidase —Cadmium(II)
Binding as a Model" J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 2001, 6,
120–127. (abstract 25)
Kashmir Junaja (Completed MA in
Chemistry in 3 years, and is now in the graduate program here) worked on hydrolytic
chemistry of metallopolymers as his honors thesis project.
Students without thesis:
Yohji Fukazawa (1994), Jurgen Thias (1995), Thu Luu (1996) a University
Minority Scholar, Vasiliki Likourinou (1999/2000), Syed Hussain (2000);
Vinh Phan (2001), Giordano da Silva (2001/2002), Jennifer Wellborn Brillant
(2003), Rani Dadlani (2003), Dieu Thu Thi Nguyen (2003) a University Minority
Scholar, Elizabeth Villarroel (2003/2004)
Former high school students in the Summer BioMed Program who worked
in the lab:
1992
Kattron Rodes, East Bay High (parvalbumin purification)
1993
Ingrid Lim, Hillsborough High (purification of blue copper protein from
spinach leaves)
Mandeep Dhala, Zephyrhills High (purification of blue copper protein
from spinach leaves)
1994
Shanti Singh, Gaither HS (protein purification)
Katherine Lowther, Lake 'O Lake HS (protein purification)
Joe Thomas, Carninal Mooney HS (protein purification)
1995
Victor Chang, Jesuit High (protein purification)
Katherine Frost, Leto High (protein purification)
Pei-Jen Hwang, Tampa Bay Tech (protein purification)
1996
Pavan Cheruvu, Hillsborough High (metal activation of serralysin)
He won the second place at the County Science Fair and the sixth place
at state competition on inhibition study of Streptomyces aminopeptidase.
Reena Ninan, King HS (metal activation of serralysin)
1997
Jashleen Bedi (metal influence on aminopeptidase activity)
1998
Becky Konnerth, Andrew Kuo, Akshata Marballi, and Michelle Ming
(inhibition study of aminopeptidase, and were acknowledged in the publication Harris,
M. N.; Ming, L.-J. "Different Phosphate Binding Modes of Streptomyces
griseus Aminopeptidase between Crystal and Solution States and the
Status of Zinc-Bound Water" FEBS Lett. 1999 , 455,
321-324. abstract 22)
1999
Mary Chen, King HS (Inhibition Studies of Metalloaminopeptidase)
2000
Mary Chen (Inhibition of Metalloaminopeptidase by the Antibiotic Bacitracin—Alternative
Biological Activity of Bacitracin?)
Ashwini Momarla (Hydrolytic Reactions by Metallobacitracin—Alternative
Biological Activity of Metalloantibiotics?)
2002
Aswini Komarla, Anupama Kotha, Kara Brown, and Jane Zhu (involved in initial
research on metallopolymer chemistry, and were acknowledged in Hanafy,
A. I.; Lykourinou-Tibbs, V.; Bisht, K. S. Ming, L.-J. “Effective Heterogeneous
Hydrolysis of Phosphodiester by Pyridine-Containing Metallopolymers” Inorg. Chim. Acta. 2005, 358, 1247–1252. abstract
)