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: UH 5234
Phone: (858) 534-3211
Fax:
Email: ntoor@ucsd.edu
Web:
View group members
Office: UH 5234
Phone: (858) 534-3211
Fax:
Email: ntoor@ucsd.edu
Web:
View group members
Education and Appointments
2009 Postdoc, Yale University, RNA Structural Biology
2004 Ph.D., University of Calgary, Biochemistry
1996 B.Sc., University of Calgary, Biochemistry
2009 Postdoc, Yale University, RNA Structural Biology
2004 Ph.D., University of Calgary, Biochemistry
1996 B.Sc., University of Calgary, Biochemistry
Awards and Academic Honors
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 Specialties
Macromolecular Structure
Biophysics
Macromolecular Structure
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
- Toor, N.; Keating, K. S.; Pyle, A. M. Structural insights into RNA splicing. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2009, 3, 260-6. [View Abstract]
- Toor, N.; Rajashankar, K.; Keating, K. S.; Pyle, A. M. Structural basis for exon recognition by a group II intron. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2008, 11, 1221-2. [View Abstract]
- Keating, K. S.; Toor, N.; Pyle, A. M. The GANC tetraloop: a novel motif in the group IIC intron structure. J Mol Biol 2008, 3, 475-81. [View Abstract]
- Toor, N.; Keating, K. S.; Taylor, S. D.; Pyle, A. M. Crystal structure of a self-spliced group II intron. Science 2008, 5872, 77-82. [View Abstract]
- Toor, N.; Robart, A. R.; 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]