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CMB

Houston, Texas

CMB research is conducted at Baylor College of Medicine in the Texas Medical Center, Houston.
Interdepartmental Program in Cell and Molecular Biology
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Florante A. Quiocho, Ph.D.

Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Ph.D., Yale University
Postdoctoral, Harvard University

Research Interests:

Structural Biophysics and Biology: X-Ray Crystallography of Proteins

Three-dimensional structures of biological macromolecules lie at the very core of understanding, at the atomic level, biological and biochemical processes. Our research interest is centered on the study of the three-dimensional structure and function of proteins and enzymes at atomic resolution. Although x-ray crystallography is the primary experimental approach to achieve this goal, other correlative studies employing biochemical, physical-chemical, and recombinant DNA techniques are also being pursued. The proteins under investigation cover the areas of signal transduction and cellular regulation, active transport, ligand and drug molecular recognition and vesicular trafficking and membrane fusion.

Sec15 is a component of the exocyst complex involved in vesicle transport and localization. It recognizes vesicles associated with Rab GTPases. The C-terminal helical domain of Drosophila Sec15 (left, x-ray structure) interacts with Rab11 in a GTP-dependent manner, co-localizes with this Rab GTPase in specialized structures within the fly eye called rhabdomeres (right, cover), and is important for rhabdomere morphology.
Sec15 is a component of the exocyst complex involved in vesicle transport and localization. It recognizes vesicles associated with Rab GTPases. The C-terminal helical domain of Drosophila Sec15 (left, x-ray structure) interacts with Rab11 in a GTP-dependent manner, co-localizes with this Rab GTPase in specialized structures within the fly eye called rhabdomeres (right, cover), and is important for rhabdomere morphology. Wu, S., Mehta, S.Q., Pichaud, F., Bellen, H.J. & Quiocho, F.A. Nature Struct. Molec. Biol. 12, 879-885 (2005)

Selected Publications:

Fallon JL, Baker MR, Xiong L, Loy RE, Yang G, Dirksen RT, Hamilton SL, Quiocho FA. Crystal structure of dimeric cardiac L-type calcium channel regulatory domains bridged by Ca2+* calmodulins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Mar 31;106(13):5135-40. Epub 2009 Mar 11. PubMed PMID: 19279214; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2654391.

Elizondo LI, Cho KS, Zhang W, Yan J, Huang C, Huang Y, Choi K, Sloan EA, Deguchi K, Lou S, Baradaran-Heravi A, Takashima H, Lücke T, Quiocho FA, Boerkoel CF. Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia: SMARCAL1 loss-of-function and phenotypic correlation. J Med Genet. 2009 Jan;46(1):49-59. Epub 2008 Sep 19. PubMed PMID:18805831.

Moure CM, Gimble FS, Quiocho FA. Crystal structures of I-SceI complexed to nicked DNA substrates: snapshots of intermediates along the DNA cleavage reaction pathway. Nucleic Acids Res. 2008 Jun;36(10):3287-96. Epub 2008 Apr 19. PubMed PMID: 18424798; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2425494.

Lee YS, Huang K, Quiocho FA, O'Shea EK. Molecular basis of cyclin-CDK-CKI regulation by reversible binding of an inositol pyrophosphate. Nat Chem Biol. 2008 Jan;4(1):25-32. Epub 2007 Nov 25. PubMed PMID: 18059263; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2367112.

Huang K, Ferrin-O'Connell I, Zhang W, Leonard GA, O'Shea EK, Quiocho FA. Structure of the Pho85-Pho80 CDK-cyclin complex of the phosphate-responsive signal transduction pathway. Mol Cell. 2007 Nov 30;28(4):614-23. PubMed PMID: 18042456; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2175173.

Oldham ML, Khare D, Quiocho FA, Davidson AL, Chen J. Crystal structure of a catalytic intermediate of the maltose transporter. Nature. 2007 Nov 22;450(7169):515-21. PubMed PMID: 18033289.

Zhang W, Wang D, Volk E, Bellen HJ, Hiesinger PR, Quiocho FA. V-ATPase V0 sector subunit a1 in neurons is a target of calmodulin. J Biol Chem. 2008 Jan 4;283(1):294-300. Epub 2007 Oct 12. PubMed PMID: 17933871.

Cheng F, Wang Q, Chen M, Quiocho FA, Ma J. Molecular docking study of the interactions between the thioesterase domain of human fatty acid synthase and its ligands. Proteins. 2008 Mar;70(4):1228-34. PubMed PMID: 17847090.

Moure CM, Bowman BR, Gershon PD, Quiocho FA. Crystal structures of the vaccinia virus polyadenylate polymerase heterodimer: insights into ATP selectivity and processivity. Mol Cell. 2006 May 5;22(3):339-49. PubMed PMID: 16678106.

Bowman BR, Welschhans RL, Jayaram H, Stow ND, Preston VG, Quiocho FA. Structural characterization of the UL25 DNA-packaging protein from herpes simplex virus type 1. J Virol. 2006 Mar;80(5):2309-17. PubMed PMID: 16474137; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1395411.

Bowman BR, Moure CM, Kirtane BM, Welschhans RL, Tominaga K, Pereira-Smith OM, Quiocho FA. Multipurpose MRG domain involved in cell senescence and proliferation exhibits structural homology to a DNA-interacting domain. Structure. 2006 Jan;14(1):151-8. PubMed PMID: 16407074.

Wu S, Mehta SQ, Pichaud F, Bellen HJ, Quiocho FA. Sec15 interacts with Rab11 via a novel domain and affects Rab11 localization in vivo. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2005 Oct;12(10):879-85. Epub 2005 Sep 11. PubMed PMID: 16155582.



For more publications, see listing on PubMed.

Contact Information:

Florante A. Quiocho, Ph.D.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza, Room T-517
Houston, TX 77030
(713) 798-6565
(713) 798-8516
E-mail: faq@bcm.edu

Updated: 11/09

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