Peter Ames

Research Professor

Office/Building: ASB 310
Phone: 801-581-3592
Email: ames@biology.utah.edu
Parkinson Lab: https://chemotaxis.biology.utah.edu/

Research Statement

I am interested in how bacteria sense and respond to chemical cues in their environment. We use genetic and molecular biology techniques to study how the receptor proteins involved in chemotaxis detect their cognate ligands, and how they transduce this information across the cell membrane via interactions with other cytoplasmic proteins to produce the appropriate behavioral response.

Research Interests

General Interests

Specific Interests

Prokaryotic genetics and molecular biology
Molecular biology of bacterial signal transduction
Chemoreceptor structure and function in bacterial chemotaxis

Selected Publications

Zhou, Q., Ames, P., and J.S. Parkinson. (2009). Mutational Analyses of HAMP Helices Suggest a Dynamic Bundle Model of Input-Output Signalling in Chemoreceptors. Mol. Microbiol. 73:801-814.
Ames, P., Q. Zhou, and J.S. Parkinson. (2008). Mutational Analysis of the Connector Segment in the HAMP Domain of Tsr, the E. coli Serine Chemoreceptor. J. Bacteriol. 190:6676-6685.
Ames, P., and J.S. Parkinson. (2006). Conformational Suppression of Inter-Receptor Signaling Defects. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103:9292-9297.
Ames, P., C.A. Studdert, R.H. Reiser, and J.S. Parkinson. (2002). Collaborative Signaling by Mixed Chemoreceptor Teams in Escherichia coli. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99:7060-7065.