Bishwa Subedi

Citation

Thesis Title
Structural and functional studies of pseudomurein peptide ligases in methanogenic archaea

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Cell walls, early evolving cell components, serve a number of essential functions including protection against osmotic stress, maintenance of cell shape, reduction of lateral gene transfer, and protection from viruses. The cell walls in bacteria are predominantly comprised of murein whereas archaea contain a wide range of cell wall types, with two orders of methanogens Methanobacteriales and Methanopyrales containing pseudomurein that share an overall architectural structure similar to that of murein. Mr Subedi sought to understand the structure and function of the methanogenic archaeal pseudomurein peptide ligases, and how they relate to the bacterial murein peptide ligases. He structurally characterised two of the pseudomurein ligase types, thereby proposing their functional role and an evolutionary pathway for both murein and pseudomurein peptide ligases. His research can be used to resolve and understand the evolutionary history of cell wall synthesis.

Supervisors
Associate Professor Andrew Sutherland-Smith
Dr Ron Ronimus
Associate Professor Gill Norris