The Mattevi Group (Structural Biology at the University of Pavia)
Prof Andrea Mattevi is currently a full Professor in Molecular Biology in the Department of Biology and Biotechnology, and from 2007 he is the dean of the Doctoral School of Biotechnology in Pavia. In addition, he is a board member of the Italian Association of Cancer Research and recently elected Chair of the 2017 Gordon Conference on Enzymes, Co-enzymes, and Metabolic Pathways.
The Structural Enzymology group, headed by Prof Mattevi, is currently hosting five Postdoctoral Fellows, five PhD students, a technician and several Master students. The common theme of the research projects in the group is the investigation of medically relevant proteins and enzymes with interesting chemical properties. The core of the research activity is represented by X-ray crystallography, employed to study protein three-dimensional structures; this is complemented by other approaches such as biochemistry, biophysics, cell biology and computational chemistry. Key contributions include the first crystal structure of a Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase (phenylacetone monooxygenase from Thermobifida fusca), the first crystal structure of a thermostable Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase (Cyclohexanone monooxygenase from Thermocrispum municipale) and the first crystal structure of a Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase active on large cyclic ketones (polycyclic ketone monooxygenase from Thermothelomyces thermophile). On the study of FMOs, the group has recently published the characterization of human isoform 5 (FMO5) revealing the atypical in vitro activity of it as a Baeyer–Villiger monooxygenase on a broad range of substrates, revealing the first example to date of a human protein catalysing such reactions; previously, the group provided the x-ray structure of a soluble prokaryotic FMO from Methylophaga sp. strain SK1, the protein of known structure with the highest sequence similarity to human FMOs.
Recent top publications
- Fürst MJ, Savino S, Dudek HM, Gómez Castellanos JR, Gutiérrez de Souza C, Rovida S, Fraaije MW, Mattevi A. (2017) Polycyclic Ketone Monooxygenase from the Thermophilic Fungus Thermothelomyces thermophila: A Structurally Distinct Biocatalyst for Bulky Substrates. J Am Chem Soc. 139(2):627.
- Fiorentini, F, Geier, M, Binda, C, Winkler, M, Faber, K, Hall, M, Mattevi, A. (2016) Biocatalytic Characterization of Human FMO5: Unearthing Baeyer-Villiger Reactions in Humans. ACS Chem Biol 11(4):1039.
- Romero, E, Gómez Castellanos, JR, Mattevi, A, Fraaije, MW (2016) Characterization and Crystal Structure of a Robust Cyclohexanone Monooxygenase. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 55:15852.
- Dijkman, WP, Binda, C, Fraaije, MW, Mattevi, A (2015) Structure-based enzyme tailoring of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural oxidase. ACS Catal. 5, 1833–1839.
- Pilotto, S, Speranzini, V, Tortorici, M, Durand, D, Fish, A, Valente, S, Forneris, F, Mai, A, Sixma, TK, Vachette, P, Mattevi, A. (2015) Interplay among nucleosomal DNA, histone tails, and corepressor CoREST underlies LSD1-mediated H3 demethylation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 112, 2752-2757.