Research • Research Areas

The researchers are interested in structure-function relations of plants metallothioneins, structural analysis of plants TOLL-interleukin I like resistance genes. Functional analysis of plant G-proteins involved in signal transduction are achieved using modeling and synchrotron X-ray diffraction and scattering methods.

Gene and protein structure prediction and analysis using computational tools is another focus area.

The group working on proteins is mainly interested in factors affecting the biological activity, viscoelastic properties of proteins, conformational multiplicity, conformational search on loop regions in proteins and tolerance of protein function to sequence variation.

A model structure of type I wheat metallothionein (dMT) from Triticum durum, based on homology modeling and X-ray solution scattering, suggests the existence of an unusually long hinge region, with structural features closely resembling those of DNA binding proteins.

Faculty Members: Zehra Sayers and Ugur Sezerman

Recent Projects:

• Structure determination of metallothionein proteins from wheat T.durum and T.aestivum. (TUBITAK)
• Solvent-temperature modulation for controlling the biological activity of proteins, supported by Sabanci University
  

Publications:

Bilecen,K., Ozturk, H.U., Duru, A.T., Sutlu, T., Petoukhov, M.V., Svergun, D.I., Koch,M.H.J., Sezerman, U.O., Cakmak, I. and Sayers, Z. 2005: Triticum durum metallothionein: Isolation of the gene and structural characterization of the protein using solution scattering and molecular modeling. J. Biol. Chem . 280: 13701-13711