Associate Professor Vic Arcus

Qualifications: BSc, MSc Waikato, PhD Cambridge

Contact Details

• Calling +64 7 838 4466  then enter the extension
• Direct dialling +64 7 838  then extension (for extensions starting with 4)
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• Emailing username@waikato.ac.nz
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Research Interests

Research and postgraduate study are encouraged in the Department of Biological Sciences. All research students acquire basic research skills and a knowledge of techniques, as well as training in specialist disciplines.

Our research focuses on molecular biology, structural biology and protein engineering. We are interested in the three-dimensional structures of several protein families and we use this information to study their biochemical functions. We use X-ray crystallography, protein NMR and other biophysical techniques. We are also interested in protein engineering to manipulate the structure and function of proteins. Here, we use site-directed mutagenesis and combinatorial mutagenesis in combination with structure determination to engineer new proteins.

Structural and Functional Biology of Microbial Toxin-Antitoxin Networks

Toxin-antitoxin pairs in bacteria act in concert to maintain low-copy number plasmids in daughter cells. It is also thought that these protein pairs are involved in microbial growth arrest under conditions of nutrient starvation and stress. We are pursuing the structures of a number of toxin-antitoxin complexes in an effort to find out more about the mechanism of cell-cycle arrest in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. bovis.

Protein Engineering to Produce Artificial Antibodies

We use a common protein scaffold to engineer a library of variants by randomizing up to seventeen amino acid positions on one face of the protein. We can then pick variants with desirable traits out of this library using phage display. This process is analogous to the selection of recombinant antibodies with the advantage that our scaffold is small and thermostable. Potential biotechnology applications are the current focus of our efforts.

Structural Biology of Proteins Involved in Plant Flowering

We are interested in several proteins which serve as checkpoints in triggering photoperiodic flowering in plants and their relationship with circadian controlled processes. We are using a range of biophysical techniques including X-ray crystallography, NMR, circular dichroism and electron microscopy to look at the structure and function of these proteins. Currently we are focusing on the proteins GI, FT and CO.

Endophyte Non-Ribosomal Peptide Sythetases

Very recently, our collaborators at AgResearch and Massey University have identified large operons in the symbiotic fungus Neotyphodium lollii, which code for non-ribosomal peptide sythetases. These genes code for proteins which are responsible for the biosynthesis of the important secondary metabolites. We are determining the structures of a number of domains from these operons to look at the molecular details of the biosynthesis of peramine.

Students Supervised

PhD

• Cumming, Mathew (submitted). Structure and Function of bacterially expressed soluble human ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase 1 (s-NTPDase1/s-CD39)
• Hennebry, Alexander (in progress). Identifying the signalling pathway of a novel splice-variant of myostatin
• Littlejohn, Emma (in progress). Biochemistry and biology of Pin domain proteins in TB
• Oulavallickal, Tifany (in progress). Reconstruction of aroa/mura ancestral enzymes and screening of potential inhibitors.
• Summers, Emma (in progress). The biochemistry and structural biology of Lsr2 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• McKenzie, Joanna (2011). Structure & Function of PIN-Domain Toxin-Antitoxin Protein Arrays
• Ruthe, Alaine (in progress). The role of the toxin-antitoxin repertiore in pathogen survival and persistence
• Steemson, John (2011). Directed Evolution of a Protein Domain using Protein Engineering
• Till, Marisa (2011). Structural and Functional Investigation of Cellulase Enzymes from the Ruminant
• Bacterium Clostridium proteoclasticum

MSc

• Duyestyn, Jo (in progress) The Function of VapC: Determining the mechanism and specificity of an RNase
• McMillan, Joel (in progress) Resurrecting ancient enzymes from extinct bacteria
• Sharrock, Abigail (in progress) The fight against Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• Easter, Ashley (2010). Decoupling enzyme catalysis from thermal denaturation

Expertise

Molecular biology; structural biology; protein engineering.

Recent Publications

• Frampton, R., Aggio, R., Villas-Bôas, S., Arcus, V., Cook, G. (2011) Toxin-antitoxin systems of Mycobacterium smegmatis are essential for cell survival
  Refereed Journal Articles - Journal of Biological Chemistry
• Koulman, A., Lee, T., Fraser, K., Johnson, L., Arcus, V., Lott, J., Rasmussen, S., Lane, G. (2011) Identification of extracellular siderophores and a related peptide from the endophytic fungus Epichloë festucae in culture and endophyte-infected Lolium perenne
  Refereed Journal Articles - Phytochemistry
• Hobbs, J., Shepherd, C., Saul, D., Demetras, N., Haaning, S., Monk, C., Daniel, R., Arcus, V. (2011) On the origin and evolution of thermophily: Reconstruction of functional Precambrian Enzymes from ancestors of Bacillus
  Refereed Journal Articles - Molecular Biology and Evolution
• Black, M., Stockum, C., Dickson, J., Putterill, J., Arcus, V. (2011) Expression, purification and characterisation of GIGANTEA: A circadian clock-controlled regulator of photoperiodic flowering in plants
  Refereed Journal Articles - Protein Expression and Purification

View All research publications by Vic Arcus

Science & Engineering - Creating the Future!