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Education:
After graduating from Reed College, Dr. Butler received her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego in 1982. She was a NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA with Joan S. Valentine and Caltech with Harry B. Gray before joining the faculty at UCSB in 1986. She received an American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Research Award; is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); a member of the 2012 Class of Fellows of the American Chemical Society; a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has chaired three Gordon Research Conferences: Environmental BioInorganic Chemistry (2006), Metals in Biology (2004) and Marine Natural Products (2002). Most recently Dr. Butler became Chair of the ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry in July 2020 which will continue through 2021.
Research:
Research Group Website: https://labs.chem.ucsb.edu/butler/alison/
Current Research
My research interests are in bioinorganic chemistry, metallobiochemistry and chemical biology, with an emphasis on elucidating roles of metal ions in catalytic activities of metalloenzymes, and discovering molecules and processes by which microbes acquire the transition metals needed to grow. Our research focus is primarily targeted in three research directions.
1) Discovery of new Siderophores and Biosynthetic Investigations. We are taking advantage of genomics to predict and discover new siderophores and to investigate their attendant biosynthetic pathways. We use bioinformatics predictions to discover new acylated siderophores and to elucidate biosynthetic pathways of these new siderophores, such as the amphi-enterobactins. We also use bioinformatics to reveal the molecular tailoring mechanisms that bacteria use to vary the structures of siderophores after their secretion. Our focus is on bacteria found in diverse environmental niches, as well as bacteria in the mammalian microbiome.
2) Developing biomimics of naturally occurring wet adhesive systems. We are exploring adhesive properties of certain catechol siderophores to mica as well as various metal oxide surfaces. We are also interested in whether bacteria use adhesive properties of these compounds to sample and promote surface colonization.
3) Microbial and bio-mimetic disassembly of lignin. We are investigating oxidative disassembly approaches of lignin to release aromatic breakout fragments. Fungal and bacterial microbes employ suites of metalloproteins which often release diffusible oxidants that attack lignin and cellulosic biomass. Some of these enzymes are related to the vanadium bromoperoxidases we have investigated extensively from marine organism. Our investigations employ both direct studies of the peroxidase enzymes, as well as small metal complexes that are functional biomimics of the enzyme.
Publications:
Full list available on group website: https://labs.chem.ucsb.edu/butler/alison/
Selected Research Publications
Precursor-directed biosynthesis of catechol compounds in Acinetobacter bouvetiiDSM14964, Z. L. Reitz, Alison Butler, Chemical Communications, 2020, In Press DOI: 10.1039/D0CC04171H
Genomic Analysis of Siderophore β-Hydroxylases Reveals Divergent Stereocontrol and Expands the Condensation Domain Family, Z.L. Reitz, C.D. Hardy, J. Suk, J. Bouvet, and Alison Butler, Proc. Nat’l Acad. Sci., 2019, 116, 19805-19814. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903161116
Design principles of mussel-inspired surface primers with catechol-cation adhesion synergy, G.D. Degen, R.B. Lewis, R.C. Andresen Eguiluz, E. Valois, K. Kristiansen, Alison Butler, J.N. Israelachvili, J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2019, 141, 18673-18681 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b04337
Catechol Oxidation: Considerations in the Design of Wet Adhesive Materials, G.P. Maier, C.M. Bernt, Alison Butler, Biomaterials Science (RSC), Biomaterials Science, 2018, 6, 332 – 339. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7BM00884H
Substrate-based differential expression analysis reveals control of biomass-degrading enzymes in Pycnoporus cinnabarinus, J.K. Henske, S.D. Springer, M. O'Malley and Alison Butler, Biochemical Engineering Journal, 2018,130, 83-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2017.11.015
Biosynthetic Considerations of Triscatechol Siderophores Framed on Serine and Threonine Macrolactone Scaffolds, Z.L. Reitz, M. Sandy and Alison Butler, Metallomics, 2017, 9, 824-839. DOI: 10.1039/C7MT00111H
Defining the Catechol-Cation Synergy for Enhanced Wet Adhesion to Mineral Surfaces, M.V. Rapp, G.P. Maier, H.A. Dobbs, N.J. Higdon, J.H. Waite, Alison Butler, J.N. Israelachvili, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016,138, 9013–9016. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b03453
Adaptive synergy between catechol and lysine promotes wet adhesion by surface salt displacement” by G.P. Maier, M.V. Rapp, J. H. Waite, J.N. Israelachvili, and Alison Butler, Science, 2015, 349, 628-632. DOI: 10.1126/science.aab0556
Biosynthesis of amphi-enterobactin siderophores by Vibrio harveyi BAA-1116: Identification of a bifunctional nonribosomal peptide synthetase condensation domain, H.K. Zane, H. Naka, F. Rosconi, M. Sandy, M.G. Haygood, Alison Butler, J Am Chem Soc., 2014, 136(15), 5615-8. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja5019942
Amphiphilic siderophore production by oil-associating microbes, M.P. Kem, H.K. Zane, S.D. Springer, J.M. Gauglitz, Alison Butler, Metallomics, 2014, 6(6), 1150-5. DOI: 10.1039/C4MT00047A
Vanadium Bromoperoxidase-Catalyzed Biosynthesis of Halogenated Marine Natural Products, J. N. Carter-Franklin and Alison Butler, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 15060-15066. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja047925p
Structure and Dynamics of a New Suite of Amphiphilic Siderophores Produced by a Marine Bacterium, J.S. Martinez, J.N. Carter-Franklin, E.L. Mann, J.D. Martin, M.G. Haygood and Alison Butler, Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci., USA, 2003, 100, 3754-3759.
Photochemical cycling of iron in the surface ocean mediated by microbial iron(III)-binding ligands, K. Barbeau, E.L. Rue, K.W. Bruland and Alison Butler, Nature, 2001, 413, 409-413.
Self-Assembling Amphiphilic Siderophores from Marine Bacteria, J.S. Martinez, G.P. Zhang, P.D. Holt, H.-T. Jung, C.J. Carrano, M.G. Haygood and Alison Butler, Science, 2000, 287, 1245-1247.