Janet E. Lindsley
Associate Professor of Biochemistry
B.S. Davidson College
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, Madison
Research
Current Activities: Since closing my research laboratory in 2003, I have dedicated my efforts to teaching and curriculum design. My passion is teaching metabolism from an intuitive perspective, with a strong emphasis on nutrition. As Assistant Dean for the medical school curriculum, I help to design and implement, as well as teach, the first two years of our medical school. I'm also course director for the graduate Regulation of Metabolism course and the Physician's Assistant biochemistry course.
Prior Research Program: From 1993 to 2003 my lab studied the mechanism of enzymes that alter chromosome structure. Our initial studies involved mostly steady-state and pre-steady-state kinetic analysis of DNA topoisomerase II (topo II). These studies were aimed at understanding how this enzyme utilizes the energy from ATP to transport one duplex of DNA through a transient break in another. We discovered that this homodimeric enzyme, with two identical ATP binding sites, acts asymmetrically with the two ATP hydrolyzed sequentially at different times during the reaction cycle.
Prior Research Program: These kinetic studies of topo II led us to two other projects. One of these was a genetic analysis of the involvement of topo II in the development of chromosome translocations. We developed a genetic selection for chromosome translocations using S. cerevisiae as our model organism. This selection system allowed us to analyze the involvement of DNA recombination, replication and repair proteins in chromosome translocations. The second project was a biochemical analysis of the complex of proteins that condense chromosomes. We purified and analyzed the condensin complex from yeast in an attempt to determine how it interacts with DNA and utilizes ATP in a mechanism that results in chromatin condensation.
A novel genetic selection system for chromosome translocations in yeast. See text for details.
References
1. Lindsley JE, Formosa T (2008) Strategy to Help Medical Students Learn Biochemistry Despite Course Structural Problems. JIAMSE 18(2)54-55
2. Lindsley JE, Rutter J (2006) Whence Cometh The Allosterome? PNAS USA 103:10533-10535
3. Lindsley JE, Rutter J (2004) Nutrient sensing and metabolic decisions. Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol. 2004 Dec;139(4):543-59
4. Stray JE, Lindsley JE (2003) Biochemical Analysis of the Yeast Condensin Smc2/4 complex: An ATPase that Promotes Knotting of Circular DNA. J. Biol. Chem. 278:26238-48
5. Tennyson RB, Ebran N, Herrera AE, Lindsley JE (2002) A Novel Selection System for Chromosome Translocations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics 160:1363-1373
6. Baird CL, Gordon MS, Andrenyak DM, Marecek JF, Lindsley JE (2001) The ATPase Reaction Cycle of Yeast Topoisomerase II: Slow Rates of ATP Resynthesis and Pi Release. J. Biol. Chem. 276:27893-27898
