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PhD Defense by Yusuf Uddin

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In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of 

 

Doctor of Philosophy in Biology

in the 

School of Biological Sciences

 

Yusuf Uddin

 

will defend his dissertation

 

Biochemical Characterization and Cryo-EM Studies of a Highly Active Spinach Photosystem II Complex

 

Thursday, November 1, 2018

1:00 PM

IBB Room 1128

 

Thesis Advisor:

Dr. Ingeborg Schmidt-Krey

School of Biological Sciences

Georgia Institute of Technology

 

Committee members: 

Dr. Al Merrill

School of Biological Sciences

Georgia Institute of Technology

 

Dr. Bridgette Barry

School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Georgia Institute of Technology

 

Dr. Loren Williams

School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Georgia Institute of Technology

 

Dr. Nael McCarty

Department of Pediatrics

School of Medicine

Emory University

 

  

Summary

 

Photosystem II (PSII) is a large, photosynthetic membrane protein complex responsible for water oxidation and the formation of oxygen on Earth. Understanding the structure of this protein is important for studying photosynthetic energy transfer and assembly mechanisms in higher plants. Recently, technological breakthroughs in the field of cryo-EM have lead to the ability to study this membrane protein by single particle analysis (SPA). This technique does not require the growth of crystals, a challenge that has hindered structural determination in higher plant PSII. In this work, the biochemical preparation of spinach PSII for cryo-EM is optimized to maintain high activity. Subunit characterization, oxygen activity, UV absorbance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and negative stain transmission electron microscopy were employed to characterize the spinach PSII preparation. Cryo-EM experiments resulted in a first model of a highly active C2 PSII complex, which contains all intrinsic and extrinsic subunits essential for activity.

Status

  • Workflow Status:Published
  • Created By:Tatianna Richardson
  • Created:10/18/2018
  • Modified By:Tatianna Richardson
  • Modified:10/18/2018

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