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
Carter, E. L., N. Flugga, J. L. Boer, S. B. Mulrooney, and R. P. Hausinger. 2009. Interplay of metal ions and urease. Metallomics 1:207-221.
Simmons JM, Müller TA, Hausinger RP. 2008. Fe(II)/alpha-ketoglutarate hydroxylases involved in nucleobase, nucleoside, nucleotide, and chromatin metabolism. Dalton Trans. (38):5132-42.
Quiroz-S Valenzuela, SCK Sukuru, RP Hausinger, LA Kuhn, WT Heller. (2008) The structure of urease activation complexes examined by flexibility analysis, mutagenesis, and small-angle X-ray scattering. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 480: 51-57.
Kalliri E, Mulrooney SB, Hausinger RP. 2008. Identification of Escherichia coli YgaF as an L-2-hydroxyglutarate oxidase.J Bacteriol. 190(11):3793-8.
Li M, Muller 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. Muller, 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-Moran, G. M., M. Li, E. Rendon-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