Chang-An Yu

	Title	Regents Professor
	Office	255A NRC
	Phone	405-744-6612
	Email	changan.yu@okstate.edu
	Degree	Ph.D. Biochemistry. 1969. University of Illinois, Urbana, IL.
	Website

Research Area (top)

Quinone mediated reaction mechanisms of mitochondrial and photosynthetic electron transfer systems

The ability of a bioenergetic apparatus to convert energy from one form to another depends on its unique membrane protein structure and specific interactions between redox components. Ubiquinone is essential in mitochondrial energy transduction, and plastoquinone plays a key role in harvesting sun energy in photosynthesis apparatus of higher plants. Our research programs focus on quinone mediated reaction mechanisms of mitochondrial and photosynthetic electron transfer systems. Multiple approaches have been employed: 1) biochemical isolation, characterization and reconstitution of electron transfer complexes and components; 2) physical characterization of isolated components or complexes using fast kinetics, fluorescence, UV/Vis, C.D., EPR, NMR, IR spectroscopies and microcalorimetry; 3) organic synthesis of biologically active quinone derivatives with reporting groups such as spin, fluorescence and photoaffinity labels; 4) X-ray crystallography and 3-D structure determination; 5) structure based site-directed mutagenesis coupled with in vitro or in vivo reconstitution.

Selected Publications (top)

Ma, H-W., Yang, S., Yu, L., and Yu, C. A. 2008. Formation of Engineered Inter-Subunit Disulfide Bond in Cytochrome bc₁ Complex Disrupts Electron Transfer Activity in the Complex. Biocim. Biophys Acta. 1777, 317-326.

Cen, X., Yu, L., and Yu, C. A. 2008. Domain Movement of Iron Sulfur Protein in Cytochrome bc₁ Complex Is Facilitated by the Electron Transfer from Cytochrome b_L to b_H.  FEBS Lett. 582, 523-526

Yu, C. A., Cen, X., Ma, H-W., Yu, L., Esser, L., and Xia, D. 2008. Domain Conformational Switch of the Iron Sulfur Protein in Cytochrome bc₁ Complex Is Induced by the Electron Transfer from Cytochrome b_L to b_H.  Biochim. Biophy. Acta. 177, 1038-1043.

Yang, S., Ma, H-W., Yu, L., and Yu, C-A. 2008. On the mechanism of  ubiquinol oxidation at Qp Site in cytochrome bc1 complex: Studied by mutants without cytochrome bL or bH.  J. Biol. Chem. 283, 28767-28776.

Gurung, B., Yu, L., and Yu, C. A. 2008. Stigmatellin induces the reduction of the Rieske [2Fe-2S] cluster of cytochrome bc₁ complex in the absence of an apparent electron source. J. Biol. Chem. 283, 28087-28094.

Xia, D., Esser, E., Elberry, M., Zhou,F., Yu, L., and Yu, C-A. 2008. The road to the crystal structure of the cytochrome bc₁ complex from the anoxigenic, photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides.  J. Bioenergetic Biomembrane. 40, 485-492.

Andei P. Komarov, Oskar W. Rokhin, Chang-An Yu and Andrei V. Gudkov. 2008. Functional Genetic Screening Reveals the Role of Mitochondrial Cytochrome b as a  Mediator of FAS- Induced Apoptosis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 105, 14453-14458.

Buddha Gurung, Linda Yu and Chang-An Yu (2008) Stigmatellin induces the reduction of the Rieske [2Fe-2S] cluster of cytochrome bc1 complex in the absence of an apparent electron source. Biochem. Submitted.

Lothar Esser, Chang-An Yu, Linda Yu and Di Xia (2008)  Insights into the Mechanisms of Quinol Oxidation in Cytochrome bc1 in Light of the Structure of Bacterial Complex. Biophysical Reviews and Letters. In press.

Chang-An Yu, Xiaowei Cen, He-Wen Ma, Linda Yu, Lothar Esser and Di Xia (2008) Domain Conformational Switch of the Iron Sulfur Protein in Cytochrome bc₁ Complex Is Induced by the Electron Transfer from Cytochrome b_L to b_H.  Biochim. Biophy. Acta. Submitted.

Xiawei Cen, Linda Yu and Chang-An Yu (2007) Domain Movement of Iron Sulfur Protein in Cytochrome bc₁ Complex Is Facilitated by the Electron Transfer from Cytochrome b_L to b_H.  FEBS Lett. In press.

 He-Wen Ma, Shaoqing Yang, Linda Yu and Chang-An Yu (2007) Formation of Inter-Subunit Disulfide Bond in Cytochrome bc₁ Complex Disrupts Electron Transfer Activity in the Complex. Biocim. Biophys Acta. In press.

Lothar Esser, Maria Elberry, Fei Zhou, Chang-An Yu, Linda Yu and Di Xia (2008) Inhibitor Complexed Structure of the Cytochrome bc₁ from the Photosynthetic Bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides.  J. Biol. Chem. 283, 2846-2857.

Di Xia, Lothar Esser, Linda Yu, and Chang-An Yu (2007) Structural Basis for the Mechanism of Electron Bifurcation at the Quinol Oxidation Site of the Cytochrome bc₁ Complex. Photsynthesis Research, 92, 17-34.

Sany Rajagukguk, Shaoqing Yang, Chang-An Yu,|Linda Yu,Bill Durham, and Francis Millett (2007) Effect of Mutations in the Cytochrome b ef Loop on the Electron-Transfer Reactions of the Rieske Iron-Sulfur Protein in the Cytochrome bc1 Complex. Biochem. 46, 1791-1798.

Lab Members (top)