Navtej Toor
Structure and Function of Introns and Retroelements
Structure and Function of Introns and Retroelements
Contact Information
Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Office: Urey Hall 5234
Phone: 858-534-3211
Email: ntoor@ucsd.edu
Group: View group members
Office: Urey Hall 5234
Phone: 858-534-3211
Email: ntoor@ucsd.edu
Group: View group members
Education
2004 Ph.D., Biochemistry, University of Calgary
1996 B.Sc., Biochemistry, University of Calgary
2004 Ph.D., Biochemistry, University of Calgary
1996 B.Sc., Biochemistry, University of Calgary
Appointments
2009 Postdoc, RNA Structural Biology, Yale University
2009 Postdoc, RNA Structural Biology, Yale University
Research Interests
The projects in my lab focus on the structure and function of non-coding regions of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. Two genetic elements particularly abdundant in these organisms are introns and retroelements. For example, ~50% of the human genome consists of spliceosomal introns and non-LTR retroelements. Both of these are considered to have evolved from a class of introns which orginated in bacteria billions of years ago called the group II introns. Group II introns share many structural and/or biochemical features with spliceosomal introns and non-LTR retroelements. Previously, I worked on determining the first crystal structure of a group II intron (figure 1). This revealed the active site of this ribozyme to contain two catalytic metal ions coordinated by a conserved RNA structural motif called domain 5. Since the group II and spliceosomal introns both share this RNA structure, spliceosomal introns should also have the same active site arrangement.
Primary Research Area
Biochemistry
Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary interests
Macromolecular Structure
Biophysics
Biophysics
Image Gallery
Crystal Structure of the Group II Intron with Ligated Exon Substrate
Crystal Structure of the Group II Intron with Ligated Exon Substrate
Selected Publications
- Chan RT, Robart AR, Rajashankar KR, Pyle AM, Toor N, "Crystal structure of a group II intron in the pre-catalytic state.", Nat Struct Mol Biol, 2012, 5, 555-7 [View Abstract]
- Toor N, Keating KS, Pyle AM, "Structural insights into RNA splicing.", Curr Opin Struct Biol, 2009, 3, 260-6 [View Abstract]
- Keating KS, Toor N, Pyle AM, "The GANC tetraloop: a novel motif in the group IIC intron structure.", J Mol Biol, 2008, 3, 475-81 [View Abstract]
- Toor N, Keating KS, Taylor SD, Pyle AM, "Crystal structure of a self-spliced group II intron.", Science, 2008, 5872, 77-82 [View Abstract]
- Toor N, Rajashankar K, Keating KS, Pyle AM, "Structural basis for exon recognition by a group II intron.", Nat Struct Mol Biol, 2008, 11, 1221-2 [View Abstract]
- Toor N, Robart AR, Christianson J, Zimmerly S, "Self-splicing of a group IIC intron: 5' exon recognition and alternative 5' splicing events implicate the stem-loop motif of a transcriptional terminator.", Nucleic Acids Res, 2006, 22, 6461-71 [View Abstract]
- Dai L, Toor N, Olson R, Keeping A, Zimmerly S, "Database for mobile group II introns.", Nucleic Acids Res, 2003, 1, 424-6 [View Abstract]
- Toor N, Zimmerly S, "Identification of a family of group II introns encoding LAGLIDADG ORFs typical of group I introns.", RNA, 2002, 11, 1373-7 [View Abstract]
- Toor N, Hausner G, Zimmerly S, "Coevolution of group II intron RNA structures with their intron-encoded reverse transcriptases.", RNA, 2001, 8, 1142-52 [View Abstract]