In all cells, regulated proteolytic events constantly sculpt and shape the proteome. In response to environmental conditions, proteolysis regulates cellular activities by adjusting gene expression, signal transduction and enzymatic activities. Equally important, intracellular proteolysis is a fundamental wing of protein quality control systems, as it eliminates misfolded proteins, especially under folding-stress conditions.

The enzymes that carry out most of the intracellular regulated proteolysis are AAA+ proteases. These are complex molecular machines that couple ATP-hydrolysis to substrate processing and degradation. These enzymes were carefully select their substrates and carry out proteolysis in a highly regulated manner that minimizes recognition errors, thereby allows intracellular proteolysis to proceed without damaging cell functioning.

Our lab use bacterial model systems to study the substrate-recognition principles and the mechanism of protein degradation by AAA+ proteases. In addition, as proteolysis regulates the virulence of many pathogenic bacteria, we develop inhibitors of AAA+ proteases and proteolytic pathways with the aim of using them as antibiotic compounds.
Check out our the Gur lab website at http://lifeserv.bgu.ac.il/wb/gure/ to learn more.

Recent Publications

Elharar Y, Roth Z, Hermelin I, Moon A, Peretz G, Vishkautzan M, Khalaila I, Gur E. (2014) Survival of mycobacteria depends on proteasome‐mediated amino acid recycling under nutrient limitation. EMBO J 33: 1802-1814.

Forer N, Korman M, Elharar Y, Vishkautzan M, Gur E. (2013). The bacterial proteasome and PafA, the Pup ligase, interact to form a modular protein tagging and degradation machine. Biochemistry 52: 9029-9035.

Shenkerman Y, Elharar Y, Vishkautzan M, Gur E. (2013) Efficient and simple generation of unmarked gene deletions in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Gene 533: 374-378.

Ofer N, Forer N, Korman M, Vishkautzan M, Khalaila I, Gur E. 2013. Allosteric transitions direct protein tagging by PafA, the prokaryotic ubiquitin-like protein (Pup) ligase. J Biol Chem 288: 11287-11293.

Ph.D. Tel Aviv University, 2005