My research centers on the one-carbon metabolism of Neurospora crassa and various higher plant species. Our latest work is examining a number of tetrahydrofolate-dependent reactions that are of special importance in the biosynthesis of thymidylate, purines, serine and methionine. These investigations currently involve (a) the isolation and characterization of key enzymes, (b) the analysis of folate pools using high performance liquid chromatography, (c) the microbiological assay of folates, and (d) study of Neurospora mutants with lesions affect tetrahydrofolate biosynthesis. Our research group, in a collaborative project with Prof. Frank Nargang of this Department, is also examining the biosynthesis of polyglutamyl forms of tetrahydrofolate using cloned genes and recombinant DNA technology.
