Principal Investigator Sebastian Lourido
We have engineered a panel of strains to study individual CDPKs. This approach relies on mutating the “gatekeeper” residue that restricts the depth of the ATP-binding pocket. This allows us to specifically inhibit or identify the targets of individual kinases. Using this approach, we have previously elucidated the distinct roles of TgCDPK1 and TgCDPK3 during the T. gondii lytic cycle. We continue to investigate the functions of these and other CDPKs, relying in part on phospho-proteomic methods to identify specific kinase targets.