Robert P. Hausinger
Professor
Co-Director QBI
  • B.S. 1977, University of Wisconsin
  • Ph.D. 1982, University of Minnesota
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, 1982-84, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
hausinge@msu.edu
6193 Biomedical & Physical Sci
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1319
Office: 517-355-6463 ext 1610
Lab: 517-355-6463 ext 1578


Lab Members

Quantitative Biology Initiative

Publication search:

Robert P. Hausinger

Research Interests

My laboratory explores specific aspects of microbial physiology and enzymology related to transition metals. For example, we study mechanisms of catalysis by metalloenzymes and characterize the pathways for biosynthesis of protein metallocenters. We use an array of experimental techniques and approaches that ranges from gene cloning to enzyme kinetics, from site-directed mutagenesis to metal ion binding assays, and from active site peptide studies to biophysical spectroscopic methods.

One research focus in my lab centers on the nickel-dependent process of ureolysis catalyzed by the enzyme urease. We cloned the urease operon from Klebsiella aerogenes and can overexpress the genes such that 10% of the cellular protein is urease. The three-dimensional structure of this enzyme was determined by crystallographic methods and the dinuclear Ni center has been probed by a variety of spectroscopic methods. We are currently using site-directed mutagenesis methods to elucidate the catalytic mechanism of this enzyme. MORE

Recent Publications


Li M, Müller TA, Fraser BA, Hausinger RP. 2008. Characterization of active site variants of xanthine hydroxylase from Aspergillus nidulans. Arch Biochem Biophys. 470:44-53.

Grzyska PK, Hausinger RP. 2007. Cr(II) reactivity of taurine/alpha-ketoglutarate dioxygenase. Inorg Chem. 46:10087-10092.

Grossoehme NE, Mulrooney SB, Hausinger RP, Wilcox DE. Thermodynamics of Ni2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+ binding to the urease metallochaperone UreE. Biochemistry. 2007 Sep 18;46(37):10506-16.

Hausinger, R. P. and D. B. Zamble. 2007. Microbial physiology of nickel and cobalt. Molecular Microbiology of Heavy Metals (ed. Nies, D. H. and S. Silver) Springer, Heidelberg, Germany 6:287-320.

Muthukumaran, R. B., P. K. Grzyska, R. P. Hausinger, and J. McCracken. 2007. Probing the Fe-substrate orientation for taurine/a-ketoglutarate dioxygenase using deuterium ESEEM spectroscopy. Biochemistry 46 (20): 5951-5959.

Grzyska, P. K., T. A. Müller, M. G. Campbell, and R. P. Hausinger. 2007. Metal ligand substitution and evidence for quinone formation in taurine/a-ketoglutarate dioxygenase. J. Inorg. Biochem. 101:797-808.

Yu, Z., P.-A. Genest, B. ter Riet, K. Sweeney, C. DiPaolo, R. Kieft, E. Christodoulou, A. Perrakis, J. M. Simmons, R. P. Hausinger, H. G. A. M. van Luenen, D. J. Rigden, R. Sabatini, and P. Borst. 2007. The protein that binds to DNA base J in trypanosomatids has features of a thymidine hydroxylase. Nucl. Acids Res. 35 (7): 2107-2115.

Montero-Morán, G. M., M. Li, E. Rendōn-Huerta, F. Jourdan, D. J. Lowe, A. W. Stumpff-Kane, M. Feig, C. Scazzocchio, and R. P. Hausinger. 2007. Purification and characterization of the FeII- and a-ketoglutarate-dependent Aspergillus nidulans xanthine hydroxylase expressed in A. nidulans and Escherichia coli. Biochemistry 46 (18): 5293-5304.

Quiroz, S., J. K. Kim, S. B. Mulrooney, and R. P. Hausinger. 2007. Chaperones of nickel metabolism. In Nickel and Its Surprising Impact on Nature, Vol. 2 of Metal Ions in Life Sciences (ed. Sigel, A, H. Sidel, R. K. O. Sigel) John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, UK, pp. 519-544.

Hausinger, R. P. 2007. New insights into acetone metabolism. J. Bacteriol. 189:671-673.

Hausinger, R. P., and A. T. Phillips. 2007. Enzyme activity. In: Methods in General and Molecular Microbiology (ed. C. A. Reddy) p.504-526. MORE