Dinesh Christendat

Campus

St. George (downtown)

CSB Appointment

Full

Research Areas

Bioinformatics / Computational Biology, Metabolomics, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Plant Biology, Structural Biology

Education

Ph.D. Concordia University

Primary Undergraduate Department

Cell & Systems Biology

Graduate Programs

Cell & Systems Biology

Academic or Administrative Appointments

Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies

Research Description

Plants produce a tremendous variety of aromatic compounds compared to other living organisms. Most of these compounds, referred to as central metabolites, are synthesized from a product of the shikimate pathway. Central metabolites are important for the structural integrity of plants and their protection from invading organisms. Other central metabolites include flavonoids and isoflavonoids, which are potential antioxidants with important nutritional benefits to humans. The regulation of the shikimate pathway is highly coordinated with the biosynthesis of these metabolites in plants. Some questions being addressed in our lab are: What are some of the biological cues that are involved in the regulation of the pathway? How can we take advantage of these regulatory processes to stimulate the shikimate pathway to enhance the biosynthesis of certain classes of central metabolites, especially those that are of nutritional importance?

The shikimate pathway is also an attractive target for drug development because it is absent in humans, but is essential for the survival of microbes, fungi and likely apicomplexan parasites. These parasites include, Plasmodium falciparum, associated with the deadliest form of malaria, and Toxoplasma gondii, implicated in psychological disorders and toxoplasmosis. We are actively studying compounds that are potential inhibitors of enzymes of the shikimate pathway with the aim of developing novel drug compounds. As a protein biochemistry group, we utilize biochemical and biophysical approaches, such as recombinant protein production, protein modification, enzyme kinetics, protein crystallography, protein ligand screening, structural biology, proteomics, etc. to understand how proteins function and how we can modulate their activity.