Ryan Lab Research

  Cartoons of protein degradation, turning a protein on/off by phosphorylation, and protein localization          

            We're interested in how bacteria coordinate their internal events in time, space, and in response to environmental cues. In particular, we're fond of mechanisms that modulate protein activity, such as protein phosphorylation, localization, and degradation. See the topics below for more details on particular projects.

Serine/threonine/tyrosine phosphorylation in bacterial cell regulation

For many years it was thought that bacteria didn't have S/T/Y phosphorylation. However, genome sequences have revealed that bacteria often contain S/T/Y kinases and phosphatases. What is S/T/Y phosphorylation doing in Caulobacter?

Temporal and spatial regulation of CtrA proteolysis

Cells regulate the production AND elimination of particular proteins. How do they decide when and where proteins are degraded?