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Dr. Horton grew up in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, and studied chemistry and biology at Southern Illinois University. Upon graduation with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1987. In 1994, Dr. Horton graduated with a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. There, she studied biological chemistry , biochemistry, and x-ray crystallography under the joint mentorship of Prof. Ponzy Lu and Prof. Mitchell Lewis. Among other contributions, Dr. Horton determined the conditions for the difficult crystallization as well as the diffraction analysis that made the landmark structure of E. coli lac repressor bound to DNA possible (published in Science). Dr. Horton then joined The Upjohn Company, a pharmaceutical company located in Kalamazoo Michigan to develop potent inhibitors of HIV reverse transcriptase (1994-1996) working closely with Dr. Barry Finzel and using structure-guided drug design. She then went on to post-doc at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1996-2001) under the mentorship of Prof. John Perona, where she gained important skills in enzyme kinetics. Dr. Horton started her own lab at the University of Arizona in 2001.
Dr. Horton also has strong interests in education and outreach, including in strengthening the scientific work force through increasing diversity and inclusion. Current courses taught by Dr. Horton are a graduate class in professional development (teaching skills such as proposal writing and giving research presentations), an undergraduate class in the Molecular Basis of Life (MCB 301), and the outreach courses MCB 397A and MCB 397C.
In her free time, Dr. Horton enjoys Muay Thai boxing, playing the cello, exploring the American Southwest, and spending time with her two children.Show Less
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Courses
- MBLMolecular Basis of Life
- IBRIntroduction to Biochemical Research
- BNABiochemistry of Nucleic Acids
- NANucleic Acids
- SCScientific Communication
- BBiochemistry
Grants
- MRI: Acquisition of a State-of-the-Art Analytical Ultracentrifuge (AUC) For Biomedical and Materials Research
Principal Investigator (PI)
2020
$342.9K
Active - Collaborative Research: Structures, Mechanism, and Functional Relevance of Filament Formation by Non-Cytoskeletal Enzymes
Principal Investigator (PI)
2019
$1.1M
Active - Protein Filament Formation in Activating and Modulating Enzymatic DNA Cleavage Specificity
Principal Investigator (PI)
2014
$762.3K
- Luminescence Spectroscopy in Molecular Assemblies and New Energy Conversion Materials: Integration Across the Undergraduate Curriculum
Co-Investigator (COI)
2009
$149.9K
- Combining Multi-scale Modeling With Multi-pronged Experiments to Unveil Conformational Changes of Macromolecular Complexes
Principal Investigator (PI)
2008
$454.7K
- Indirect Readout and the Evolution of Specificity in DNA Binding Enzymes
Principal Investigator (PI)
2004
$1.2M
News
- Once Hidden Cellular Structures Emerge in Fight Against Viruses
2019
- Chemistry Program Promotes Discovery-Based Experiences
2013
- Just a Little Squeeze Lets Proteins Assess DNA
2008
Publications (62)
Recent
- The role of filamentation in activation and DNA sequence specificity of the sequence-specific endonuclease SgrAI
2022
- High-Resolution Structure of the Nuclease Domain of the Human Parvovirus B19 Main Replication Protein NS1
2021
- Filament Formation Induces a Shape Change and Activation of the Nuclease SgrAI
2020
- Novel insights into filament-forming enzymes
2020
- The Filament Forming Mechanism of SgrAI Endonuclease‐Structural and Kinetic Analysis
2020
- Structure‐Function Studies of the Helicase Domain of NS1 Protein of Human Parvovirus B19
2020
- Structures, functions, and mechanisms of filament forming enzymes: a renaissance of enzyme filamentation
2019
- Indirect Readout of DNA Controls Filamentation and Activation of a Sequence-Specific Endonuclease
2019
- Mechanism of Filamentation-Induced Allosteric Activation of the SgrAI Endonuclease
2019
- The run-on oligomer filament enzyme mechanism of SgrAI: Part 1. Assembly kinetics of the run-on oligomer filament
2018
- Enzyme Activity and Specificity Modulated by Protein Filamentation
2018
- Endonuclease Activity Inhibition of the NS1 Protein of Parvovirus B19 as a Novel Target for Antiviral Drug Development
2018
- The Need for Speed: Run-On Oligomer Filament Formation Provides Maximum Speed with Maximum Sequestration of Activity
2018
- The run-on oligomer filament enzyme mechanism of SgrAI: Part 2. Kinetic modeling of the full DNA cleavage pathway
2018
- DNA Binding and Cleavage by the Human Parvovirus B19 NS1 Nuclease Domain
2016
- Probing the run-on oligomer of activated SgrAI bound to DNA
2015
- Structure and specificity of FEN-1 from Methanopyrus kandleri
2015
- Structure and Specificity of FEN-1 from Methanopyrus kandleri.
2014
- Structural analysis of activated SgrAI-DNA oligomers using ion mobility mass spectrometry.
2013
- Allosteric regulation of DNA cleavage and sequence-specificity through run-on oligomerization.
2013
- Structural Analysis of Activated SgrAI-DNA Oligomers Using Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry
2013
- Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Visual analysis of concerted cleavage by type IIF restriction enzyme SfiI in subsecond time region.
2012
- Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Vesicle fusion observed by content transfer across a tethered lipid bilayer.
2012
- Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Hidden multiple bond effects in dynamic force spectroscopy.
2012
- Faculty of 1000 evaluation for DNA stretching by bacterial initiators promotes replication origin opening.
2011
- New clues in the allosteric activation of DNA cleavage by SgrAI: structures of SgrAI bound to cleaved primary-site DNA and uncleaved secondary-site DNA.
2011
- Activation of DNA cleavage by oligomerization of DNA-bound SgrAI.
2010
- Crystallization of zinc finger proteins bound to DNA
2010
- Domain swapping in allosteric modulation of DNA specificity.
2010
- The restriction enzyme SgrAI: structure solution via combination of poor MIRAS and MR phases.
2009
- DNA distortion and specificity in a sequence-specific endonuclease.
2008
- Early interrogation and recognition of DNA sequence by indirect readout
2008
- The structure of SgrAI bound to DNA; recognition of an 8 base pair target.
2008
- Alteration of sequence specificity of the type II restriction endonuclease HincII through an indirect readout mechanism.
2006
- Structure of Aart, a designed six-finger zinc finger peptide, bound to DNA.
2006
- DNA-induced conformational changes in type II restriction endonucleases: the structure of unliganded HincII.
2005
- Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of Aart, a designed six-finger zinc-finger peptide, bound to DNA.
2005
- Mechanistic insights from the structures of HincII bound to cognate DNA cleaved from addition of Mg2+ and Mn2+.
2004
- Ca2+ binding in the active site of HincII: implications for the catalytic mechanism.
2004
- DNA cleavage by EcoRV endonuclease: two metal ions in three metal ion binding sites.
2004
- Electrostatic contributions to site specific DNA cleavage by EcoRV endonuclease.
2002
- Sequence selectivity and degeneracy of a restriction endonuclease mediated by DNA intercalation.
2002
- Inhibition of EcoRV endonuclease by deoxyribo-3 '-S-phosphorothiolates: A high-resolution X-ray crystallographic study
2001
- Sequence selectivity and degeneracy of a restriction endonuclease mediated by DNA intercalation
2001
- Catalytic efficiency and sequence selectivity of a restriction endonuclease modulated by a distal manganese ion binding site
2001
- Making the most of metal ions
2001
- Crystallographic snapshots along a protein-induced DNA-bending pathway
2000
- Role of protein-induced bending in the specificity of DNA recognition: Crystal structure of EcoRV endonuclease complexed with d(AAAGAT)+d(ATCTT)
2000
- DNA cleavage by EcoRV endonuclease: Two metal ions in three metal ion binding sites
1999
- Divalent metal dependence of site-specific DNA binding by EcoRV endonuclease.
1999
- Crystallization and preliminary diffraction analysis of the HincII restriction endonuclease-DNA complex.
1999
- Recognition of flanking DNA sequences by EcoRV endonuclease involves alternative patterns of water-mediated contacts
1998
- Electrostatic contributions to site specific DNA cleavage by EcoRV endonuclease
1998
- Divalent metal dependence of site-specific DNA binding by EcoRV endonuclease
1998
- Cation binding to the integrin CD11b I domain and activation model assessment.
1998
- Role of protein-induced bending in the specificity of DNA recognition: crystal structure of EcoRV endonuclease complexed with d(AAAGAT) + d(ATCTT)
1998
- Metal ion-mediated substrate-assisted catalysis in type II restriction endonucleases.
1998
- Escherichia coli lac repressor-lac operator interaction and the influence of allosteric effectors.
1997
- The structure of an RNA/DNA hybrid: a substrate of the ribonuclease activity of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase.
1996
- Crystal structure of the lactose operon repressor and its complexes with DNA and inducer
1996
- CALCULATION OF THE FREE-ENERGY OF ASSOCIATION FOR PROTEIN COMPLEXES
1992
- Calculation of the free energy of association for protein complexes
1992