Fan, Xiaorui
Xiaorui is a student in the Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology home area of the MBIDP, where she works in the laboratory of Dr. James Wohlschlegel. She joined the CMB training program in 2016. She received a B.S. degree in 2011 from Purdue University.
Mentor: Dr. James Wohlschlegel
Iron-sulfur proteins are a group of proteins that utilize iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters as co-factors. Previous studies have shown that cytosolic iron-sulfur cluster assembly (CIA) targeting complex is required for proper incorporation of Fe-S into iron-sulfur proteins.
CIA-targeting complex contains three proteins: MMS19, FAM96B and CIAO1. Malfunction of CIA proteins disrupts the maturation of iron-sulfur proteins, and thus impairs essential cellular functions including DNA maintenance. However, little is known on how the CIA-targeting complex works. I am currently working on elucidating the architecture of the CIA-targeting complex using cross-linking mass spectrometry. We aim to understand how CIA facilitates the adoption of Fe-S by iron-sulfur proteins, as well to learn the function of each CIA protein.
