Timothy Donohue
Professor of Bacteriology
Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, 1980
Postdoctoral Research: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Address: 5159 Microbial Sciences Building
Telephone: 262-4663
E-mail: tdonohue@bact.wisc.edu
Research Interests:
Deciphering the fundamental problem of biological energy generation
Research Fields:
Gene Expression
Genomics
Microbial Genetics
Research Description:
We
analyze how cells generate biomass or biofuels from sunlight or other renewable
energy sources. To dissect this fundamentally important problem, we study
metabolic pathways and regulatory networks of the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter
sphaeroides. We take advantage of the R. sphaeroides genome
sequence, microarrays, proteomics and molecular techniques to decipher how the
energy in sunlight or renewable nutrients is funneled into cell material or
biofuel formation.
Our interests include determining how
cells respond to singlet oxygen, a toxic byproduct of photosynthesis, the role
of alternative sigma factors in this response, and the gene products that
repair or prevent damage from this reactive oxygen species. Approaches taken to
solve these problems include biochemical analysis of how singlet oxygen damages
biomolecules, computational, genetic, and genome-wide analyses of genes or
proteins involved in the response to this reactive oxygen species, and
physiological analysis to determine the function of these gene products in the
response to singlet oxygen.
Our
long range goals are to identify metabolic and regulatory activities that are
critical to bioenergy formation, to obtain a thorough understanding of
energy-generating pathways of agricultural, environmental and medical
importance, and to use computational models to increase the ability of microbes
to utilize sunlight, generate renewable sources of energy, remove greenhouse
gases or other toxic compounds, and synthesize compounds that reduce our
dependence on fossil fuels.
Representative Publications:
Donohue.
2011. iRsp1095: A genome-scale reconstruction
of the Rhodobacter sphaeroides metabolic network. BMC Systems Biology 5:116.
Greenwell, R.S., Nam, T.W.
and T.J. Donohue. 2011. Features of Rhodobacter
sphaeroides ChrR required for stimuli to promote dissociation of sE/ChrR complexes. J. Mol. Biol. 407:477-491.
Dufour,
Y. S., Kiley, P. J., and T. J. Donohue. 2010. Reconstruction of the core and
extended regulons of global transcription factors. PLoS Genetics. 6:e1001027.
Yilmaz, S., Sanders, A., Kontur, W., Donohue, T.J.,
and D.R. Noguera.
2010. Electron partitioning during light- and nutrient-powered
hydrogen production by Rhodobacter
sphaeroides. BioEnergy Research. 3:55-66.
Ziegelhoffer, E. C. and Donohue, T.
J. 2009. Bacterial
responses to photooxidative stress. Nature Reviews Microbiology 7:856-863.
Professor of Bacteriology
Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, 1980
Postdoctoral Research: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Address: 5159 Microbial Sciences Building
Telephone: 262-4663
E-mail: tdonohue@bact.wisc.edu
Research Interests:
Deciphering the fundamental problem of biological energy generation
Research Fields:
Gene Expression
Genomics
Microbial Genetics
We
analyze how cells generate biomass or biofuels from sunlight or other renewable
energy sources. To dissect this fundamentally important problem, we study
metabolic pathways and regulatory networks of the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter
sphaeroides. We take advantage of the R. sphaeroides genome
sequence, microarrays, proteomics and molecular techniques to decipher how the
energy in sunlight or renewable nutrients is funneled into cell material or
biofuel formation.
Our interests include determining how
cells respond to singlet oxygen, a toxic byproduct of photosynthesis, the role
of alternative sigma factors in this response, and the gene products that
repair or prevent damage from this reactive oxygen species. Approaches taken to
solve these problems include biochemical analysis of how singlet oxygen damages
biomolecules, computational, genetic, and genome-wide analyses of genes or
proteins involved in the response to this reactive oxygen species, and
physiological analysis to determine the function of these gene products in the
response to singlet oxygen.
Donohue.
2011. iRsp1095: A genome-scale reconstruction
of the Rhodobacter sphaeroides metabolic network. BMC Systems Biology 5:116.
Greenwell, R.S., Nam, T.W.
and T.J. Donohue. 2011. Features of Rhodobacter
sphaeroides ChrR required for stimuli to promote dissociation of sE/ChrR complexes. J. Mol. Biol. 407:477-491.
Dufour,
Y. S., Kiley, P. J., and T. J. Donohue. 2010. Reconstruction of the core and
extended regulons of global transcription factors. PLoS Genetics. 6:e1001027.
Yilmaz, S., Sanders, A., Kontur, W., Donohue, T.J.,
and D.R. Noguera.
2010. Electron partitioning during light- and nutrient-powered
hydrogen production by Rhodobacter
sphaeroides. BioEnergy Research. 3:55-66.
Ziegelhoffer, E. C. and Donohue, T. J. 2009. Bacterial responses to photooxidative stress. Nature Reviews Microbiology 7:856-863.
