Junji Iwahara, PhD
Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tel: (409) 747-1403
Fax: (409) 772-6334
E-mail:j.iwahara@utmb.edu
Campus Location: 5.104C Medical Research Bldg
Mail Route: 0857
Lab Web Page
Research
Macromolecular
binding event is not simply a two-state exchange between free and bound
states. In fact, previous kinetic investigations have suggested that
the process of the specific complex formation goes through intermediate
states called as target search or encounter complexes and the presence
of such intermediates greatly accelerates the overall process. In terms
of structure, how do individual components bind to each other at the
intermediates states? How dynamic are they? These are fundamentally
important questions for understanding macromolecular recognitions, while
structural biology has not given adequate answers yet. It is because
the very low population at equilibrium and dynamic nature of such states
make the investigations extremely difficult. We have developed a number
of powerful NMR methods that permit characterization of the
intermediates in macromolecular binding at equilibrium. Applying the new
techniques, we investigate structural and dynamic aspects of binding
intermediates. Currently, the focus in our research is on the target
search process whereby gene-regulatory proteins are able to efficiently
and rapidly locate their specific DNA target sequence in a sea of
non-specific DNA.
Publications