Dylan Murray

Assistant Professor

Molecular and Cell Biology / Structural Biology, Biochemistry and Biophysics (SB3)

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Education: Ph.D. Molecular Biophysics, Florida State University; PRAT Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institutes of General Medical Sciences, Bethesda MD

Research Interests: Our lab focuses on a mechanistic, molecular view of how biopolymers assemble functionally and pathologically. We employ a multi-faceted experimental and computational approach centered around magnetic resonance. Current projects include RNA granule formation and aggregation in neurodegenerative disease; intermediate filament assembly and defects associated with cancers and pediatric disorders; and the structure of the plant cell wall with applications for engineering fossil fuel alternatives and drought tolerance.

Select Publications:

Fonda BD, Kato M, Li Y, Murray DT, Cryo-EM and solid state NMR together provide a more comprehensive structural investigation of protein fibrils. Protein Sci. 2024 Oct;33(10):e5168. doi: 10.1002/pro.5168. PMID: 39276003

Fonda BD, Murray DT. The Potent PHL4 Transcription Factor Effector Domain Contains Significant Disorder. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Jul 1:2024.06.27.601048. doi: 10.1101/2024.06.27.601048. PMID: 39005418; PMCID: PMC11244893.

Gao, Y.; Lipton, A.; Munson, C.; Ma, Y.; Johnson, K.; Murray. D. T.; Scheller, H.; Mortimer, J. C. Elongated galactan side-chains mediate cellulose-pectin interactions in engineered Arabidopsis secondary cell walls. The Plant Journal. 2023, https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.16242.

Wittmer, Y.; Jami, K. J.; Stowell, R. S.; Le, T.; Hung, I.; Murray, D. T.^† Liquid Droplet Aging and Seeded Fibril Formation of the Cytotoxic Granule Associated RNA Binding Protein TIA1 Low Complexity Domain. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 1580–92.

Munson, C. R.; Gao, Y.; Mortimer, J. C.; Murray D. T.^† Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance as a Tool to Probe the Impact of Mechanical Preprocessing on the Structure and Arrangement of Plant Cell Wall Polymers. Front. Plant. Sci. 2022, 12, 766506.

Fonda, B. D.; Jami, K. M.; Boulos, N. R.; Murray D. T.^† Identification of the Rigid Core for Aged Liquid Droplets of an RNA-Binding Protein Low Complexity Domain. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 6657–68. *Highlighted as a JACS Spotlight and ACS Editor’s Choice Award

Zhou, X.; Lin, Y.; Kato, M.; Mori, E.; Liszczak, G.; Sutherland, L.; Sysoev, V. O.; Murray, D. T.; Tycko, R.; McKnight, S. L. Transiently structured head domains control intermediate filament assembly. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 2021, 118, e2022121118.

Gao, Y.; Lipton, A. S.; Wittmer, Y.; Murray, D. T.; Mortimer, J. C. A grass-specific cellulose–xylan interaction dominates in sorghum secondary cell walls. Nat. Comm. 2020, 11, 6081.

Sysoev, V. O.; Kato, M.; Sutherland, L.; Hu, R.; McKnight, S. L.; Murray, D. T.^† Dynamic structural order of a low-complexity domain facilitates assembly of intermediate filaments. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 2020, 117, 23510–8.

Murray, D. T.; Tycko, R. Side Chain Hydrogen-Bonding Interactions within Amyloid-like Fibrils Formed by the Low-Complexity Domain of FUS: Evidence from Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Biochemistry 2019, 59, 364–78.

Murray, D. T.; Zhou, X.; Kato, M.; Xiang, S.; Tycko, R.; McKnight, S. L. Structural characterization of the D290V mutation site in hnRNPA2 low-complexity-domain polymers. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 2018, 115, E9782–91.

Murray, D. T.; Kato, M.; Lin, Y.; Thurber, K. R.; Hung, I.; McKnight, S. L.; Tycko, R. Structure of FUS protein fibrils and its relevance to self-assembly and phase Separation of low-complexity domains. Cell 2017, 171, 615–27.

*Highlighted on the Cover and in a companion Perspective article

Walti, M.A.; Schmidt, T.; Murray, D. T.; Wang, H.; Hinshaw, J. E.; Clore, G. M. Chaperonin GroEL accelerates protofibril formation and decorates fibrils of the Het-s prion protein. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 2017, 114, 9104–9.