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Amanda Bird
JE 320A
(614) 247-1559
abird@ehe.osu.edu
Assistant Professor
B.S. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of Durham, U.K., 1994
Ph.D. Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, University of Newcastle, U.K., 1998
1998-2002
Postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Professor David Eide, Department of Nutrition, University of Missouri-Columbia
2002-2007
Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Dennis Winge, Department of Biochemistry and Medicine, University of Utah
2006-2007
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Hematology, University of Utah
2008-present
Assistant Professor, Departments of Human Nutrition and Molecular Genetics, The Ohio State University
Zinc is essential for all life, but when present in excess, can be toxic to growth. As a consequence, all cells rely on homeostatic mechanisms to maintain an optimal level of zinc. In humans, zinc deficiency can arise from genetic disorders (Acrodermatitis enteropathica), impaired zinc absorption following intestinal surgery, or most commonly from low levels of absorbable zinc in the diet. In children zinc deficiency leads to an increased risk of diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria. Low serum zinc levels have been associated with an increased risk for coronary heart disease while in populations exposed to high levels of nitrosamines low levels of dietary zinc lead to an increased risk of esophageal and oral cancers. Thus, zinc deficiency is an important health issue and a contributing factor to the severity of a number of disorders
The goal of our lab is to understand at the molecular level, what happens to cells when they are starved for zinc. In particularly we are interested in understanding how cells sense 'zinc deficiency' and how they alter their metabolism to survive with lower intracellular zinc levels. To address this question we having taken a transcriptomics approach using the eukaryotic model yeast system Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Using high density tiling arrays we have identified all of the transcripts that are regulated in response to zinc deficiency. In addition to identifying protein coding genes, we have identified a number of non-protein coding RNAs that are specifically regulated by zinc levels. As more ncRNAs are identified the classical view of proteins being the driving force in regulation is changing to a more sophisticated picture in which proteins and ncRNAs act together to coordinate gene expression and other metabolic processes.The current focus of our lab is to understand regulatory functions of ncRNAs in zinc homeostasis.
Wu CY, Bird AJ, Chung LM, Newton MA, Winge DR and Eide DJ (2008) Differential control of Zap1-regulated genes in response to zinc deficiency in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. BMC Genomics 9:370-387
Khalimonchuk O, Bird AJ and Winge DR (2007) Evidence for a pro-oxidant intermediate in the assembly of cytochrome oxidase. J Biol Chem 282:17442-9
Bird AJ (2007) Metallosensors, the ups and downs of gene regulation. Adv Microb Physiol 53:232-57
Bird AJ, Gordon M, Eide DJ and Winge DR (2006) Repression of ADH1 and ADH3 gene expression during zinc deficiency by Zap1-induced intergenic RNA transcripts. EMBO J 25:5726-34.
Chang-Yi W, Bird AJ, Winge DR and Eide DJ (2006) Regulation of the yeast Tsa1 peroxiredoxin by Zap1 is an adaptive response to the oxidative stress of zinc deficiency. J Biol Chem 282:2184-95.
Bird AJ, Swierczek S, Qiao W, Eide DJ and Winge DR (2006) Zinc metalloregulation of the zinc finger pair domain. J Biol Chem 281:25326-35.
Qiao W, Mooney M, Bird AJ, Winge DR and Eide DJ (2006) Zinc binding to a regulatory zinc-sensing domain monitored in vivo by using FRET. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:8674-79.
Keller G, Bird AJ and Winge DR (2005) Independent Metalloregulation of Ace1 and Mac1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Eukaryot cell 4:1863-71.
Herbig A, Bird AJ, McCall K, Mooney M, Chang-Yi W, Eide DJ and Winge DR (2005) Zap1 activation domain I and its role in controlling gene expression in response to cellular zinc status. Mol Microbiology 57:834-46.
Bird AJ, Blankman E, Stillman DJ, Eide DJ and Winge DR (2004) The Zap1 transcriptional activator also acts as a repressor by binding downstream of the TATA box in ZRT2. EMBO J 23:1123-1132.
Rutherford JC and Bird AJ (2004) Metal-responsive transcription factors that regulate iron, zinc and copper homeostasis in eukaryotic cells. Eukaryot Cell 3:1-13.
Bird AJ, McCall K, Kramer M, Blankman E, Winge DR and Eide DJ (2003) Zinc fingers act as Zn2+ sensors for regulation of activation domain function in the yeast Zap1 transcriptional activator. EMBO J 22:1-10.
Evans-Galea M, Blankman E, Myszka D, Bird AJ, Eide DJ and Winge DR (2002) Two of the five zinc fingers in the Zn-regulated Zap1 transcription factor dominate site-specific DNA binding. Biochemistry 42:1053-1061.
Bird AJ, Zhao H, Luo H, Jenson LT, Srinivasan C, Evans-Galea M, Winge DR and Eide DJ (2000) A dual role for zinc fingers in both DNA binding and zinc sensing by the Zap1 transcriptional activator. EMBO J 19:1-10.
Bird AJ, Evans-Galea M, Blankman E, Zhao H, Luo H, Winge DR and Eide DJ (2000) Mapping the DNA binding domain of the Zap1 zinc-responsive transcriptional activator. J Biol Chem 275:16160-16166.
Bird AJ, Turner-Cavet JS, Lakey JH and Robinson NJ (1997) A carboxyl-terminal Cys2/His2-type zinc finger motif in DNA primase influences DNA content in Synechococcus PCC 7942. J Biol Chem 273:21246-21252.
Robinson NJ, Bird AJ and Turner JS (1996). Metallothionein gene regulation in cyanobacteria. In: Metal ions in gene regulation (Walden and Silver eds.). Chapman and Hall.