User:Peter Chien

Contact Info

Peter Chien (an artistic interpretation)

• Peter Chien
• University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• 710 N. Pleasant St.
• LGRT818
• Amherst, MA 01003
• Email me through OpenWetWare

I work at UMass Amherst in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department. I learned about OpenWetWare when I was at MIT for my postdoc, and, although initially scared off by Jason and Barry - I've joined because I like the sharing of information/resources/science.

Education

• 2003-2009, postdoc, MIT
• 2003, PhD Biophysics, UCSF
• 1998, BS Physics/Biology, MIT

Research interests

Protein degradation is an essential process for all biological life. Damaged or improperly folded proteins need to be cleared from the cell before they elicit toxic effects. Regulatory proteins need to be degraded so that the response they support exists only as long as it is necessary. However, as proteolysis is an irreversible event, great care must be taken to only degrade those factors as needed without disturbing the balance of other proteins. In eukaryotes, exquisite selectivity is generated through cascading molecular events that together yield a ubiquitination signal which targets a substrate for degradation. As no such system exists in bacteria, the highly specific nature of protein degradation must be accomplished at the level of direct recognition of the substrate or by utilizing auxiliary factors to improve specificity. The general objectives of the Chien lab are to understand how these substrates are recognized in a precise fashion and the impact of substrate degradation on the various regulatory networks of the cell.

Publications

1. Chowdhury T, Chien P, Ebrahim S, Sauer RT, and Baker TA. Versatile modes of peptide recognition by the ClpX N domain mediate alternative adaptor-binding specificities in different bacterial species. Protein Sci. 2010 Feb;19(2):242-54. DOI:10.1002/pro.306 |
2. Kobayashi H, De Nisco NJ, Chien P, Simmons LA, and Walker GC. Sinorhizobium meliloti CpdR1 is critical for co-ordinating cell cycle progression and the symbiotic chronic infection. Mol Microbiol. 2009 Aug;73(4):586-600. DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2009.06794.x |
3. Chien P, Grant RA, Sauer RT, and Baker TA. Structure and substrate specificity of an SspB ortholog: design implications for AAA+ adaptors. Structure. 2007 Oct;15(10):1296-305. DOI:10.1016/j.str.2007.08.008 |
4. Chien P, Perchuk BS, Laub MT, Sauer RT, and Baker TA. Direct and adaptor-mediated substrate recognition by an essential AAA+ protease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Apr 17;104(16):6590-5. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0701776104 |
5. Tanaka M, Chien P, Yonekura K, and Weissman JS. Mechanism of cross-species prion transmission: an infectious conformation compatible with two highly divergent yeast prion proteins. Cell. 2005 Apr 8;121(1):49-62. DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2005.03.008 |
6. Chien P, Weissman JS, and DePace AH. Emerging principles of conformation-based prion inheritance. Annu Rev Biochem. 2004;73:617-56. DOI:10.1146/annurev.biochem.72.121801.161837 |
7. Tanaka M, Chien P, Naber N, Cooke R, and Weissman JS. Conformational variations in an infectious protein determine prion strain differences. Nature. 2004 Mar 18;428(6980):323-8. DOI:10.1038/nature02392 |
8. Chien P, DePace AH, Collins SR, and Weissman JS. Generation of prion transmission barriers by mutational control of amyloid conformations. Nature. 2003 Aug 21;424(6951):948-51. DOI:10.1038/nature01894 |
9. Chien P and Weissman JS. Conformational diversity in a yeast prion dictates its seeding specificity. Nature. 2001 Mar 8;410(6825):223-7. DOI:10.1038/35065632 |
10. Santoso A, Chien P, Osherovich LZ, and Weissman JS. Molecular basis of a yeast prion species barrier. Cell. 2000 Jan 21;100(2):277-88. DOI:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81565-2 |

    leave a comment about a paper here

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