Hemanth Singuluri, current Ph.D. student in the Department of Biological Sciences at UWM, will present a talk about his work entitled, “Regulation of nuclear localization of yeast Snf1/AMPK.”

The abstract is as follows:

Dr. Kuchin’s lab is interested in the mechanisms by which eukaryotic cells respond to stress. Among various stress conditions, carbon/energy stress plays a particularly important role. Members of the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) family are conserved in virtually all eukaryotes and regulate responses to energy limitation. Failure to mount an appropriate response to energy stress entails serious metabolic and developmental consequences. For example, defects in AMPK signaling in humans have been implicated in diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer. Despite its broad importance, many aspects of AMPK signaling in eukaryotes remain unknown. Our lab uses Snf1, the AMPK ortholog of baker’s yeast, as a model system for unraveling novel mechanisms of Snf1/AMPK regulation. Our lab has uncovered a regulatory link between Snf1 and the mitochondrial voltage dependent anion channel (VDAC) proteins. One particularly intriguing finding is that VDACs promote Snf1 nuclear translocation. Indeed, it is quite paradoxical that VDACs, which are mitochondrial outer membrane proteins, play a major role in regulating the translocation of Snf1 to an entirely different organelle, the nucleus. In this presentation, we will provide a possible answer to this paradox. Because Snf1/AMPK and VDAC proteins are highly conserved in evolution, our findings may have implications for other eukaryotes, including humans.

The presentation will begin at 4:00 PM in Lapham N101, preceded by an informal Q&A from 3:45 – 4:00 PM.