Bethany Anne Buck portrait
  • Associate Professor, Chemistry
  • Associate Member, Huntsman Cancer Institute
  • Adjunct Associate Professor, Department Of Biochemistry
  • Director, Biological Chemistry Program
801-581-3186

Publications

  • Sanchez A (2022). Joining the PARty: PARP Regulation of KDM5A during DNA Repair (and Transcription?). BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology. Vol. 44, e2200015e2200015. Published, 06/01/2022.
  • Hodges, AJ, Hudson, NO & Buck-Koehntop, BA (2020). Cys2His2 Zinc Finger Methyl-CpG Binding Proteins: Getting a Handle on Methylated DNA. (pp. 1640-1660). Vol. 432. J. Mol. Biol. Published, 03/13/2020.
  • Hudson NO, Whitby FG & Buck-Koehntop BA (2018). Structural insights into methylated DNA recognition by the C-terminal zinc fingers of the DNA reader protein ZBTB38. The Journal of biological chemistry. Vol. 293, 19835-19843. Published, 12/21/2018.
  • Hudson NO & Buck-Koehntop BA (2018). Zinc Finger Readers of Methylated DNA. (pp. 2555). Vol. 23. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland). Published, 12/01/2018.
  • Wang S, Al-Soodani AT, Thomas GC, Buck-Koehntop BA & Woycechowsky KJ (2018). A Protein-Capsid-Based System for Cell Delivery of Selenocysteine. Bioconjugate chemistry. Vol. 29, 2332-2342. Published, 07/01/2018.
  • Pozner A, Hudson NO, Trewhella J, Terooatea TW, Miller SA & Buck-Koehntop BA (2018). The C-Terminal Zinc Fingers of ZBTB38 are Novel Selective Readers of DNA Methylation. J. Mol. Biol. Vol. 430, 258-271. Published, 02/01/2018.
  • Pozner, A, Terooatea, TW & Buck-Koehntop, BA (2016). Cell Specific Kaiso (ZBTB33) Regulation of Cell Cycle Through Cyclin D1 and Cyclin E1. J. Biol. Chem. Vol. 291(47), 24538-24550. Published, 09/30/2016.
  • Terooatea, TW, Pozner, A & Buck-Koehntop, BA (2016). PatCh-Cap: Input Strategy for Improving Analysis of ChIP-exo Data and Beyond. Nucleic Acids Res. Vol. 44(21), e159. Published, 08/22/2016.
  • Buck-Koehntop, BA & Defossez, P-A (2013). On How Mammalian Transcription Factors Recognize Methylated DNA. (pp. 131-137). Vol. 8(2). Epigenetics. Published, 01/16/2013.
  • Buck-Koehntop, BA, Stanfield, RL, Ekiert, DC, Martinez-Yamout, MA, Dyson, HJ, Wilson, IA & Wright, PE (2012). Molecular Basis for Recognition of Methylated and Specific DNA Sequences by the Zinc Finger Kaiso. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. Vol. 109(38), 15229-15234. Published, 09/18/2012.
  • Buck-Koehntop, BA, Martinez-Yamout, M., Dyson, HJ & Wright, PE (2012). Kaiso uses all Three Zinc Fingers and Adjacent Sequence Motifs for High Affinity Binding to Sequence-specific and Methyl-CpG DNA Targets. FEBS Lett. Vol. 586, 734-739. Published, 03/23/2012.

Research Statement

The primary focus of our research is to utilize a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates biophysical/biochemical, molecular biology and cellular biology strategies to investigate mechanistic questions in the area of transcriptional regulation.

We are particularly interested in applying these methodologies to investigate specialized transcription factors that recognize methylated DNA sequences. In mammals, DNA methylation in the context of CpG dinucleotides is a common mechanism for long-term transcriptional repression of genes. In recent years, aberrant alterations in the level of genomic DNA methylation has been directly associated with the early stages of cancer development. Current projects focus on identifying specific DNA targets for methyl-CpG binding proteins, structurally ascertaining their differential mode of DNA recognition, structurally characterizing protein/protein interactions, and evaluating how interpretation of the methylation signal triggers chromatin remodeling. This knowledge base will provide the foundation for evaluating how methyl-CpG DNA binding proteins can be utilized for future epigenetic cancer therapeutics.

Research Keywords

  • Epigenetics in Cancer
  • Methyl-CpG Binding Proteins
  • Zinc Finger Proteins
  • DNA Methylation
  • Protein-DNA Interactions
  • Biophysical Chemistry
  • NMR Spectroscopy
  • High-throughput Sequencing

Research Equipment and Testing Expertise

  • Biomolecular NMR.