David L. Herrin

Herrin, David L.
Professor of Molecular Cell & Developmental Biology

E-mail: herrin@mail.utexas.edu

Website: http://www.biosci.utexas.edu/MCDB/herrin.html

Main Office: PAI 2.24
Phone: 512 471-3843

Alternate Office: PAI 2.18
Phone: 512 471-3844

Mailing Address:
The University of Texas at Austin
for courier- Bio 311 24th & Whitis
1 University Station A6700
Austin, TX 78712

Graduate Students:

  • Kwon, Taegun
  • Luo, Liming
  • Qiu, Weihua

    • Post Doc Students:

  • Odom, Obed W.

    • Research Summary:
       There are several lines of molecular biology research currently underway in my laboratory. A major area concerns intron ribozymes that are found primarily in organellar genes, nuclear rRNA genes, prokaryotes, and certain viruses. These genetic elements have moved horizontally between genomes and organisms during evolution, and they have two unique properties which promote their existence. One is the ability of the RNAs they encode to catalyze their own splicing (i.e., they can self-splice). A second feature is that some of these introns encode proteins that promote their own splicing, and act to initiate movement of the intron into intronless alleles (intron homing). We are investigating both of these intron-related processes using biochemical and genetic approaches. These studies are providing new insights into the evolution of genes and intron ribozymes, and providing molecular tools for other studies. We have also begun to use the novel intron-encoded endonucleases to study how chloroplasts repair a double-strand in the genome. This work is being performed in Chlamydomonas and Arabidopsis, as these organisms offer complementary advantages for the study of organellar DNA repair.
     
    Publications:
    Distinct Roles for the 5' and 3' Untranslated Regions in the Degradation and Accumulation of Chloroplast tufA mRNA: Identification of an Early Intermediate in the In Vivo Degradation Pathway. (2007) Plant Mol. Biol. 63, 689-702.
    Mg2+ Mimicry in the Promotion of Group I Ribozyme Activities by Aminoglycoside Antibiotics. (2006) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Communications 344, 1246-1252.
    Unusual Metal Specificity and Structure of the Group I Ribozyme from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii 23S rRNA. (2006) EBS Journal 273, 2631-2644.
    Expression, Purification, and Biochemical Characterization of the Intron-Encoded Endonuclease, I-CreII. (2005) Protein Expression and Purification 44, 162-172.
    A Horizontally Acquired Group II Intron in the Chloroplast psbA Gene of a Psychrophilic Chlamydomonas: In Vitro Self-Splicing and Genetic Evidence for Maturase Activity (2004) RNA 10, 1097-1107.
    Mutagenesis of Light-Regulated psbA Intron Reveals the Importance of Efficient Splicing for Photsynthetic Growth (2003) Nucleic Acids Research 31, 4361-4372.

     
    Search PubMed for more publications by Prof. Name
    (a new browser window will open)
    "Caution, this search may require more information to be accurate or specific. Check authors and institution carefully."

    Max Docs:  Pub. Date limit: