Hyun Ju Cho
chohyu11(at)msu.edu
PI:
Christina Chan
Lab:
517-432-1003
Michigan State University
2125 Engineering Building
East Lansing, MI 48824
Hometown:
Sacheon, South Korea
Undergraduate Institution:
Pusan National University
Graduate Institution:
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (M.S.)
Project title:
The Biophysical Effects of Palmitate on Kinases
Project Description:
PKR (double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase) is an important component in the innate immunity antiviral and apoptotic pathways. Recently, our group found that palmitate, a saturated fatty acid, is involved in apoptosis by reducing the autophosphorylation of PKR at the Thr451 residue, however, the molecular mechanism by which palmitate reduces PKR autophosphorylation is not known. We investigated how palmitate affects the phosphorylation of the PKR protein at the molecular and biophysical levels. Biochemical and computational studies show that palmitate binds to PKR, in the ATP binding site, thereby inhibiting its autophosphorylation at Thr451. We further confirmed that palmitate interacts with other kinases, due to the conserved ATP binding site. Based on these results, we expended the research to UPR (Unfolded Protein Respond) because there are two UPR kinase proteins, IRE1 and PERK. We proposed that palmitate may involve in the physical interaction with those UPR proteins, thereby initiating UPR signaling pathway. Thus, this project, of how palmitate interacts with PKR proteins as well as other kinases, sheds light onto a possible mechanism by which palmitate mediates kinase signaling pathways, which could have implications on the efficacy of current drug therapies that target kinases.
Personal Interests:
Watching American dramas and movies, playing racquetball, listening to music, and reading novels