DurreShahwar Muhammad
University of Massachusetts, MA·Biology·Early-career
Peroxisomes are small compartments inside cells that carry out essential chemical reactions and contain harmful reactive oxygen molecules. Cells must recycle worn-out peroxisomes while protecting healthy ones.
- Fields
Biology
Plant Science & Agriculture
Biochemistry
- Topics
peroxisomes
pexophagy
autophagy
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2028
What they work on
- Identify and characterize the proteins acted on by LON2, a peroxisomal protein that refolds and degrades other proteins, including substrates that promote pexophagy (peroxisome destruction) in Arabidopsis.
- Use proteomics to survey Arabidopsis cells with dysfunctional peroxisomes, finding proteins that accumulate abnormally and changes in other essential organelles.
- Analyze transcriptomes to detect retrograde signals from damaged peroxisomes to the nucleus, using predictive modeling to identify the genes switched on when pexophagy is heightened or blocked.
More about the research
Excessive destruction of peroxisomes contributes to human peroxisome biogenesis disorders. So what signals tell a cell when to break down a peroxisome? This project asks that question using the model plant Arabidopsis, a small mustard plant. Many features of peroxisomes are shared between plants and animals.
Why it matters
Peroxisomes are required for survival in both plants and mammals, and excessive peroxisome destruction contributes to the physical problems seen in human peroxisome biogenesis disorders. Identifying the signals that trigger peroxisome breakdown could improve understanding of what causes these disorders. It could also suggest directions for therapy for affected patients.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Kyaw Aung
Iowa State University, IA·Plant Science & Agriculture·Early-career
Test whether HPCA1, a hydrogen peroxide sensor, functions at plasmodesmata, the channels linking neighboring plant cells, to regulate hydrogen peroxide movement in Arabidopsis thaliana, using genetics and cell biology.
Mary Tierney
University of Vermont, VT·Plant Science & Agriculture
Compare the proteins that make up and associate with the Retriever recycling complex in Arabidopsis thaliana and the moss Physcomitrium patens, using proximity labeling from the subunits VPS29, VPS26C, and CCDC22.
Arpit Sharma
Tufts University, MA·Biochemistry·Early-career
Determine why peroxisomes, organelles devoted largely to lipid metabolism, change shape during fasting, and test whether this remodeling increases the efficiency with which cells oxidize lipids.
The school
University of Massachusetts: 28 labs on PI Pages, $282M a year on research, 337 research doctorates a year.
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