Douglas Smith
Research
Our studies of DNA replication center on understanding initiation of rounds of replication in procaryotic cells: the structural requirements for the origin of replication (oriC), the role of GATC methylation state in initiation, and the mechanisms of control of initiation. We have recently shown that Dam methylation is required for precise timing of initiation of rounds of DNA replication; current emphasis is on the mechanism involved. Other related projects include delineation of control circuits regulated by the DnaA protein and state of GATC methylation and studies of gram-negative origins from bacteria which have no GATC methylation. We are also engaged in projects concerned with genome (large and small) mapping and sequencing, and concomitant computer database handling and sequence analysis.
Select Publications
- Zyskind, J.W. and Smith, D.W. (1992). DNA Replication, the bacterial cell cycle, and cell growth. Cell 69:5-8.
- Smith, D.W., Yee, T.W., Baird, C. and Krishnapillai, V. (1991). Pseudomonad replication origins: a paradigm for bacterial origins? Mol. Microbiol. 5:2581-2587.
- Seely, O., Jr., Feng, D.-F., Smith, D.W., Sulzbach, D. and Doolittle, R.F. (1990). Construction of a facsimile-data set for large genome sequence analysis. Genomics 8:71-82.
- Loomis, W.F. and Smith, D.W. (1990). Molecular phylogeny of dictyostelium-discoideum by protein sequence comparison. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:9093-9097.
Biography
Doug Smith received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Virusforshung in Tübingen. He was named Outstanding Educator of America in 1973.
