2018-2019 Faculty Research Grants
Peter Lyons (Biology)
Investigating the Function of Pseudopeptidases
Metallocarboxypeptidases (MCPs) are enzymes that are involved in many biological processes from intestinal digestion to neuronal signaling. Some of these MCPs are predicted to be inactive, yet are found in a wide variety of species and thus are likely to be necessary for biological function. We refer to these inactive enzyme-like proteins as pseudopeptidases. Their function is not well-understood, because the most obvious likely function, that of an enzyme, is not present. This proposal aims to investigate the function of two of these proteins at both biochemical and biological levels. Ecm14 is a yeast protein. We will use a ‘synthetic lethal’ approach to determine other proteins that must be functional when Ecm14 is not. This will lead to a better understanding of the biological and biochemical function of Ecm14. Cpxm1b is a protein found in most vertebrate organisms. We will use the zebrafish model system to determine its role, through knock-down and knock-out approaches followed by phenotypic assays, such as the staining of cartilage in larval fish. Altogether these experiments will lead to the completion and publication of our study on the yeast pseudopeptidase, Ecm14, initiation of a new line of investigation of vertebrate pseudopeptidases in the zebrafish, and development of a publication record and preliminary data leading to the submission of a grant application to NSF.