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Christine Cremo, Ph.D.

Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Pharmacology

Summary

I have worked in the field of muscle proteins since my doctoral work on the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor in the heart. After working on fluorescent nucleotide derivatives for studies on skeletal myosin structure and function, I moved on to try to understand the regulation of the smooth muscle myosin ATPase by phosphorylation of the regulatory light chain. The focus has been on structure-function relationships. This work is ongoing, as well as a new focus on structure-function relationships of smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase. This work has high relevance to several human diseases such as asthma, hypertension, and gastrointestinal disorders.

Research

  • Regulation of smooth muscle contraction.
  • Solution kinetics of myosin-actin interactions.
  • Single molecule kinetics of myosin-actin interactions.
  • Single molecule interactions of myosin light chain kinase with cytoskeletal proteins.

Education

  • Ph.D. - Oregon State University
  • B.A., Biology - Lewis and Clark College

Selected publications

2013

  • Jackson DR Jr, Webb M, Stewart TJ, Phillips T, Carter M, Cremo CR, Baker JE. 2013. Sucrose increases the activation energy barrier for actin-myosin strong binding. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. pii: S0003-9861(13)00386-X. doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2013.12.012. [ePub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 24370736.
  • Hong F, Facemyer KC, Carter MS, Jackson del R, Haldeman BD, Ruana N, Sutherland C, Walsh MP, Cremo CR, Baker JE. 2013. Kinetics of myosin light chain kinase activation of smooth muscle myosin in an in vitro model system. Biochemistry. 52(47):8489-500. doi: 10.1021/bi401001x. ePub 2013 Nov 11. PubMed PMID: 24144337; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3886827.
  • Webb M, Jackson del R Jr, Stewart TJ, Dugan SP, Carter MS, Cremo CR, Baker JE. 2013. The myosin duty ratio tunes the calcium sensitivity and cooperative activation of the thin filament. Biochemistry. 52(37):6437-44. doi: 10.1021/bi400262h. ePub 2013 Sep 3. PubMed PMID: 23947752.
  • Stewart TJ, Jackson DR Jr, Smith RD, Shannon SF, Cremo CR, Baker JE. 2013. Actin Sliding Velocities are Influenced by the Driving Forces of Actin-Myosin Binding. Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering. 6(1):26-37. PubMed PMID: 23606917; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3627502.

2012

  • Ni S, Hong F, Haldeman BD, Baker JE, Facemyer KC, Cremo CR. 2012. Modification of interface between regulatory and essential light chains hampers phosphorylation-dependent activation of smooth muscle myosin. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 287(26):22068-79. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.343491. ePub 2012 May 1. PubMed PMID: 22549781; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3381165.

2011

  • Sich NM, O'Donnell TJ, Coulter SA, John OA, Carter MS, Cremo CR, Baker JE. 2011. Effects of actin-myosin kinetics on the calcium sensitivity of regulated thin filaments. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 285(50):39150-9. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M110.142232. ePub 2010 Oct 2. PubMed PMID: 20889979; PubMed CentralPMCID: PMC2998111.
  • Hong F, Haldeman BD, Jackson D, Carter M, Baker JE, Cremo CR. 2011. Biochemistry of smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. 510(2):135-46. doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2011.04.018. ePub 2011 May 3. Review. PubMed PMID: 21565153; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3382066.
  • Jung HS, Billington N, Thirumurugan K, Salzameda B, Cremo CR, Chalovich JM, Chantler PD, Knight PJ. 2011. Role of the tail in the regulated state of myosin 2. Journal of Molecular Biology. 408(5):863-78. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2011.03.019. ePub 2011 Mar 23. PubMed PMID: 21419133; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3776433.
  • Vileno B, Chamoun J, Liang H, Brewer P, Haldeman BD, Facemyer KC, Salzameda B, Song L, Li HC, Cremo CR, Fajer PG. 2011. Broad disorder and the allosteric mechanism of myosin II regulation by phosphorylation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 108(20):8218-23. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1014137108. ePub 2011 May 2. PubMed PMID: 21536903; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3100986.
  • Milton DL, Schneck AN, Ziech DA, Ba M, Facemyer KC, Halayko AJ, Baker JE, Gerthoffer WT, Cremo CR. 2011. Direct evidence for functional smooth muscle myosin II in the 10S self-inhibited monomeric conformation in airway smooth muscle cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108(4):1421-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1011784108. ePub 2011 Jan 4. PubMed PMID: 21205888; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3029703.