John E. Cronan
Professor and Head of Microbiology
Professor of Biochemistry
j-cronan@life.uiuc.edu
B.A. (Biology), California State
University, 1965
Ph.D. (Molecular Biology), University of California, Irvine,
1968
Postdoctoral (Biochemistry), Washington University School
of Medicine, 1968-1970
Assistant & Associate Professor (Biochemistry), Yale
University, 1970-1978
Genetic approaches to regulation of lipid metabolism; metabolic function of protein-lipid interactions; lipoic acid synthesis and attachment.
My laboratory works in two main areas-regulation of lipid metabolism and protein-lipid interaction. In both areas, the organism studied is Escherichia coli due to its sophisticated genetics and simple lipid composition. We have studied mechanisms that regulate the composition of the membrane phospholipids of E. coli and are currently concerned how this organism regulates lipid synthesis such that it is neither "fat nor lean." Our work on protein-lipid interactions is centered about systems that allow a genetic analysis of these interactions. These are: (1) Vibrio cholerae cis-traens isomerase which changes the configuration of the fatty acid chains of membrane phospholipids, and (2) E. coli cyclopropane fatty acid synthesis, a soluble enzyme where substrate is found in nonpolar regions of lipid bilayers. Our approaches to the problem studies are genetics, molecular cloning, in vitro synthesis of genes, protein purification, and enzymology. We have also begun to study these processes in the gram positive bacterium, Lactococcus lactis.
A new interest is the use of the rare modifications of proteins by addition of biotin or lipoic acid to study problems of folding, export, and purification. We are also very interested in how lipoic acid and biotin are synthesized and attached to the relevant proteins and have isolated a number of new genes and enzymes involved in these processes.
Campbell, J.W., Morgan-Kiss, R.M., and Cronan, J.E. Jr. (2003) "A New Escherichia coli Metabolic Competency: Growth on Fatty Acids by a Novel Anaerobic Beta-Oxidation Pathway," Mol. Microbiol. 47: 793-805. [Abstract]
Jordan, S.W., and J.E. Cronan, Jr. (2002) "Chromosomal Amplification of the Escherichia coli lipB Region Confers High Level Resistance to Selenolipoic Acid," J. Bacteriol. 184: 5495-5501. [Abstract]
Campbell, J.W., and Cronan, J.E. Jr. (2002) "The Enigmatic Escherichia coli fadE Gene is yafH," J. Bacteriol. 184: 3759-3764. [Abstract]
Cronan, J.E., Jr. (2002) "Interchangeable Enzyme Modules: Functional Replacement of the Essential Linker of the Biotinylated Subunit of Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase with a Linker From the Lipoylated Subunit of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase," J. Biol. Chem. 277: 22520-22527. [Abstract]
Solbiati, J., Smith, A.C., and Cronan, J.E. Jr. (2002) "Stabilization of the Biotinoyl Domain of Escherichia coli Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase by Interactions Between the Attached Biotin and the Protruding 'Thumb' Structure," J. Biol. Chem. 277: 21604-21609. [Abstract]
Morgan-Kiss, R.M., Wadler, C., and Cronan, J.E. Jr. (2002) "Long Term and Homogeneous Regulation of the Escherichia coli araBAD Promoter by Use of a Lactose Transporter of Relaxed Specificity,"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 99: 7373-7377. [Abstract]
View Publications by John E Cronan Jr listed on the National Library of Medicine (PubMed)