William D. Picking
Professor
Chair of Veterinary Pathobiology

• B.A., Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
• Ph.D., University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Research Emphasis: Dr. Bill Picking uses studies the molecular mechanisms by which the bacterial pathogen Shigella flexneri invades human colonocytes to cause bacillary dysentery. Over the years, he and Wendy Picking have identified important proteins involved in controlling the Shigella type III secretin system (T3SS) as it delivers invasion-enabling proteins into target cells. He is currently using molecular and imaging techniques to dissect the T3SS apparatus (the injectisome) from Shigella to determine the detailed structure of this nanomachine. He uses parallel biochemical approaches to understand the structure-function relationships for the proteins that make up the cytoplasmic portions of the injectisome.

Selected Publications:

1. Tachiyama, S., Skaar, R., Chang, Y., Carroll, B.L., Muthuramalingam, M., Barta, M., Picking W.L., Liu, J. and Picking, W.D. (2021) Composition and Biophysical Properties of the Sorting Platform Pods in the Shigella Type III Secretion System. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 11:682635. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.682635. PMID: 34150677; PMCID: PMC8211105.
2. Muthuramalingam, M., Whittier, S.K., Picking, W.L. and Picking, W.D. (2021) The Shigella type III secretion system: An overview from top to bottom. Microorganisms. 9(2):451. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9020451. PMID:  33671545  .
3. Muthuramalingam, M., Whittier, S.K., Lovell, S., Battaile , K.P., Tachiyama , S., Johnson , D.K., Picking, W.L. and Picking, W.D. (2020) The structures of SctK and SctD from Pseudomonas aeruginosa reveal the interface of the type III secretion system basal body and sorting platform. J. Mol. Biol. 432:166693 doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2020.10.027. PMID:  33122003
4. Jain, A., Kumar, R.S.S., Hu, G., Johnson, D.K., Picking, W.D., Picking, W.L. and Middaugh, C.R. (2020) Preformulation characterization and the effect of ionic excipients on the stability of a novel DB fusion protein. J. Pharm. Sci. 110:108-123 . PMID:  32916136  
5. Tachiyama, S., Chang, Y., Muthuramalingam, M., Hu, B., Barta, M.L., Picking, W.L., Liu, J. and Picking, W.D. (2019) The cytoplasmic domain of MxiG interacts with MxiK and directs assembly of the sorting platform in the Shigella type III secretion system. J. Biol. Chem. 294:19184-19196. PMID: 31699894.
6. Muthuramalingam, M., Whittier, S., Tachiyama, S., Picking, W.L. and Picking, W.D. (2018) The cytoplasmic portion of the T3SS inner membrane ring components sort into distinct families based on different biophysical properties. Biochim. Biophys. Acta  pii: S1570-9639(19)30107-4. doi: 10.1016/j.bbapap.2019.06.002. PMID: 31195141
7. Barta, M.L., Tachiyama, S., Muthuramalingam, M., Arizmendi, O., Villanueva, C.E., Ramyar, K.X., Geisbrecht, B.V., Lovell, S., Battaile, K.P., Picking, W.L. and Picking, W.D. (2018) Using disruptive insertional mutagenesis to identify the in situ structure-function landscape of the Shigella translocator protein IpaB. Protein Sci. 27:1392 doi: 10.1002/pro.3428. PMID: 29672980
8. Barta, ML ,  Shearer, JP ,  Arizmendi, O,  Tremblay, JM ,  Mehzabeen, N,  Zheng, Q ,  Battaile, KP,  Lovell, S ,  Tzipori, S,  Picking, WD ,  Shoemaker, CB , and Picking, WL . (2017) Single-domain antibodies pinpoint potential targets within Shigella invasion plasmid antigen D of the needle tip complex for inhibition of type III secretion. J. Biol. Chem. 292:16677-16687. PMID: 28842484