Rosemary B. Cornell, Professor B.Sc., Houghton College Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Phone: (778)-782-3709 Office: SSB 6146 Email: cornell@sfu.ca Research website

Research Interest

Membrane biochemistry; Regulation of peripheral membrane proteins by lipid interactions
Regulatory enzymes that control metabolism are multi-domain structures whose catalytic sites are often suppressed by inter-domain interactions until some cellular signal binds and disrupts that inhibitory interaction. Many metabolic enzymes and proteins involved in signal transduction are amphitropic; i.e. they are regulated by reversible association with cell membranes, as illustrated on the right. One of these is CTP: phosphocholine cytidyltransferase (CCT), which catalyzes a key regulatory step in phosphatidyl-choline synthesis. We are investigating the interplay between CCT and membranes enriched in lipid mediators such as fatty acids and diacylglycerol. Membrane binding and activation of CCT is promoted by increases in membrane content of these minor lipid species, and by dephosphorylation of CCT’s C-terminal tail. (Cornell and Northwood 2000 )

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