Reeve

John N. Reeve
Professor

Rod Sharp Professor of Microbiology

B.Sc. Univ. of Birmingham, UK, 1968
Ph. D. Univ. of British Columbia, 1971
Postdoc. Univ. of Arizona, 1971-1973
Postdoc. Max Planck Inst., W. Berlin, 1974-1979

Campus Address: 
468 BioSci
Office Phone: 
614-292-1267
Lab Phone: 
614-292-6890
Email: 
reeve.2
PUBLICATIONS

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Archaeal gene expression

Archaea are prokaryotes, many of which have very unusual life-styles and unique biochemical abilities. Our research goal is to define and understand the molecular machinery and regulatory systems involved in gene expression in two thermophilic Euryarchaea, Thermococcus kodakarensis (T.k.) and Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus (M.t). 

Archaeal bio-energy production

T.k. is an anaerobic heterotroph that grows optimally at 85ºC by digesting starch, chitin or peptides and produces hydrogen.  M.t.is an anaerobic autotroph that grows optimally at 65ºC by consuming carbon dioxide and hydrogen and so produces methane.  Our experiments combine genetics and biochemistry to identify the molecular components, catalysts and regulation of these globally and commercially very important archaeal bio-energetic systems.

Archaeal histones and chromatin

The genomes of T.k. and M.t. are bound by archaeal histones, small DNA-binding proteins that share a common histone-fold structure with the histones that compact nuclear DNA in almost all Eukaryotes into nucleosomes and chromatin.  In contrast to the universal conservation of histones in Eukaryotes, there are no histones in Bacteria. Archaeal and eukaryotic histones apparently shared a common ancestor that evolved after the divergence of the bacterial and archaeal prokaryotic lineages. In Eukaryotes, histones dominate in regulating genome expression and provide the targets for epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Our research goal is to establish the in vivo functions of archaeal histones and their evolutionary and functional relationships to eukaryotic histones.

RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS

  • Santangelo TJ, Cubonova L &  Reeve JN. (2010) Thermococcus kodakarenis genetics: TK1827-encoded β-glycosidase, new positive selections, targeted and repetitive deletion technology. Appl Environ Microbiol. 76, 1044-52.
  • Friedrich-Jahn U,  Aigner J, Längst G, Reeve JN. & Huber H. (2009) Nanoarchaeal origin of histone H3? J Bacteriol. 191, 1092-6.
  • Dev K, Santangelo TJ, Rothenburg S, Neculai D, Dey M, Sicheri F, Dever TE, Reeve JN & Hinnebusch AG (2009) Archael aIF2B interacts with eukaryotic translation initiation factors eIF2α and eIF2Bα: Implications for aIF2B function and eIF2B regulation. J Mol Biol. 392, 701-22.
  • Santangelo TJ, Cubonova L, Skinner KM, &  Reeve JN. (2009) Archaeal intrinsic transcription termination in vivo. J Bacteriol. 191, 7102-8.
  • Santangelo TJ, Cubonova L, Masumi R, Atomi H, Imanaka T &  Reeve JN. (2008) Polarity in archaeal operon transcription in Thermococcus kodakaraensis. J Bacteriol. 190, 2244-8.
  • Santangelo TJ, Cubonova L, &  Reeve JN. (2008) Shuttle vector expression in Thermococcus kodakaraensis: contributions of cis elements to protein synthesis in a hyperthermophilic Archaeon. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74, 3099-3104.
  • Sandman K, Louvel H, Samson RY, Pereira SL &  Reeve JN.(2008) Archaeal chromatin proteins histone HMtB and Alba have lost DNA-binding ability in laboratory strains of Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus. Extremophiles 12, 811-817.
  • Weidenbach K, Glöer J, Ehlers C, Sandman K, Reeve JN & Schmitz RA. (2008) Deletion of the archaeal histone in Methanosarcina mazei Gö1 results in reduced growth and genomic transcription.  Mol Microbiol. 67, 662-71.
  • Reeve JN & Sandman K. (2007). Chromatin and regulation. In “Archaea: Evolution, Physiology, and Molecular Biology.”Eds Garrett, R and Klenk H-P. Blackwell Publ., Oxford UK. pp 147-58.
  • French SL, Santangelo TJ, Beyer AL &  Reeve JN. (2007) Transcription and translation are coupled in Archaea. Mol Biol Evol. 24, 893-5.

One historical favorite:

  • Sandman K, Krzycki JA, Dobrinski B, Lurz R &  Reeve JN. (1990) DNA binding protein HMf from the hyperthermophilic archaebacterium Methanothermus fervidus is most closely related to histones. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A  87, 5788-91.