Jennifer Saito
2538 McCarthy Mall, Snyder Hall 111
Honolulu, HI 96822
(808) 956-6945 (phone)
(808) 956-5339 (fax)
saitoj@hawaii.edu

Education

B.S. Microbiology        2002    University of Hawaii at Manoa

Research Summary

Globins are now found in all three kingdoms of life and exhibit a wide variety of functions.  In 2000, our lab discovered the first globin in the Archaea.  Furthermore, this also marked the first time that a member of the globin superfamily was involved in signal transduction.  This protein, found in Halobacterium salinarum and named HemAT-Hs, consists of an N-terminal globin domain and a C-terminal signaling domain homologous to the bacterial methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCPs).  It is involved in sensing the fluctuating oxygen levels in the environment and translating that information into movement of the cell (aerotaxis).  This allows the cell to find the oxygen concentration that is optimal for its growth.

My research deals with the signaling mechanism of HemAT-Hs and HemAT-Bs (from Bacillus subtilis).  These are the only HemATs whose physiological functions have been experimentally determined, but little is known about how the oxygen-bound signal is passed from the sensing to the signaling domain.  My aim is to determine the properties of the globin domain that are important for this process.

Publications

Saito, J.A., Wan, X., Lee, K.S., Hou, S., Alam, M.  2008.  Globin-coupled sensors and protoglobins share a common signaling mechanism.  FEBS Letters.  In press.

Saito, J.A., Freitas, T.A.K., & Alam, M.  2008.  Cloning, expression, and purification of the N-terminal heme-binding domain of globin-coupled sensors.  Methods in Enzymology.  437:163-172. 

Nardini, M., Pesce, A., Thijs, L., Saito, J.A., Dewilde, S., Alam, M., Ascenzi, P., Coletta, M., Ciaccio, C., Moens, L., & Bolognesi, M.  2008.  Archaeal protoglobin structure indicates new ligand diffusion paths and modulation of haem-reactivity.  EMBO Reports.  9:157-163.

Freitas, T.A.K., Saito, J.A., Wan, X., Hou, S., & Alam, M.  2007.  Protoglobin and globin-coupled sensors.  In Ghosh, A. (Ed.)  The smallest biomolecules: diatomics and their interactions with heme proteins.  pp. 175-202.

Freitas, T.A.K., Saito, J.A., Hou, S., & Alam, M.  2005.  Globin-coupled sensors, protoglobins, and the last universal common ancestor.  Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry.  99:23-33.

Freitas, T.A.K., Hou, S., Dioum, E.M., Saito, J.A., Newhouse, J., Gonzalez, G., Gilles-Gonzalez, M.A., & Alam, M.  2004.  Ancestral hemoglobins in Archaea.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.  101:6675-6680.