Dr. S. Muthukrishnan

Area of study: Biochemistry
Email: smk@ksu.edu
Website: Homepage

For many years, our laboratory has been interested in matrix materials which control the shape and activities of underlying cell types. Matrix materials such as hyaluronan in mammals, cellulose in plants, and chitin in insects serve as extracellular matrix materials that regulate a variety or processes including tube morphogenesis. Aberrations in tube morphogenesis are likely to be associated with some human diseases. Matrix components are also critical for attachment of cancer cells during metastasis. We are using chitin as a model extracellular material and we have been carrying out an extensive functional genomics analysis of all genes involved in chitin metabolism in the model beetle, Tribolium castaneum using RNA interference. Our studies have established that there is functional specialization among the genes that form and degrade the extracellular matrix chitin.