Qualifications & Memberships
Research Interests
My research interests are related to studying the structure and function of proteins, the aim being to obtain a better understanding of key biological questions at level of atoms and molecules.
My research interests encompass the following areas:
-Understanding proteins from microbial pathogens, especially those involved in essential metabolic pathways or otherwise important for pathogenicity, bacterial survival and anti-microbial resistance (e.g. proteins from the TB-causing bacteria M.tuberculosis (M.tb) and the opportunistic pathogen S. aureus).
The aim being to understand not only the role of these proteins in the bacteria and disease, but also uses structural information to design inhibitors that could become future drugs to treat microbial
diseases.
-Understanding the molecular basis and communication networks behind protein cooperativty and allostery
-Bio-engineering proteins to act as tools in a range of applications
Recent Publications
- Stanborough T., Ho NAT., Bulloch EMM., Bashiri G., Dawes SS., Akazong EW., Titterington J., Allison TM., Jiao W. and Johnston JM. (2023) Allosteric inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus MenD by 1,4-dihydroxy naphthoic acid: a feedback inhibition mechanism of the menaquinone biosynthesis pathway. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 378(1871) http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0035.
- Given FM., Moran F., Johns AS., Titterington JA., Allison TM., Crittenden DL., Johnston JM. and Tsai FT. (2022) The structure of His-tagged Geobacillus stearothermophilus purine nucleoside phosphorylase reveals a 'spanner in the works'. Acta Crystallographica Section F: Structural Biology Communications 78: 416-422. http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/S2053230X22011025.
- Amoozadeh S., Johnston J. and Meisrimler CN. (2021) Exploiting structural modelling tools to explore host-translocated effector proteins. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 22(23) http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms222312962.
- Ehrhardt MKG., Gerth ML. and Johnston JM. (2021) Structure of a double CACHE chemoreceptor ligand-binding domain from Pseudomonas syringae provides insights into the basis of proline recognition. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 549: 194-199. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2021.02.090.
- Bashiri G., Nigon LV., Jirgis ENM., Ho NAT., Stanborough T., Dawes SS., Baker EN., Bulloch EMM. and Johnston JM. (2020) Allosteric regulation of menaquinone (Vitamin K
2 ) biosynthesis in the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Journal of Biological Chemistry 295(12): 3759-3770. http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.RA119.012158.