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Hyun Kyu Song

Korea University · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

About the Lab

Professor Hyun Kyu Song's research lab specializes in structural biology and biochemistry, focusing on the molecular mechanisms of protein degradation, autophagy, and metallochaperone systems in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The lab investigates ATP-dependent protease complexes such as HslVU and ClpP, elucidating their activation mechanisms and substrate processing. It also explores key regulatory nodes in autophagy, including the p62/SQSTM1 adapter and ATG12–ATG5 interactions, with a particular emphasis on substrate recognition and cellular signaling integration. Additionally, the lab examines metal ion delivery systems, such as UreE, to understand virulence factor activation in pathogenic bacteria.

protein degradationautophagyATPase-protease complexesmetallochaperonesstructural biology

Research Overview

Papers
243
Total Citations
17,284
Papers (5y)
42
Primary Field
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
42total
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Citations per year (5y)
548total
20222023202420252026

Selected Papers

15
2
Article|233 citations·2010
Structures of ClpP in complex with acyldepsipeptide antibiotics reveal its activation mechanism
Byung‐Gil Lee, Eun Young Park, Kyung-Eun Lee, Hyesung Jeon, Kwang Hoon Sung, Holger Paulsen, Helga Rübsamen‐Schaeff, Heike Brötz‐Oesterhelt, Hyun Kyu Song
SJR Q1Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Molecular BiologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
3
Article|161 citations·2010
Structural basis for the recognition of N-end rule substrates by the UBR box of ubiquitin ligases
Woo Suk Choi, Byung‐Cheon Jeong, Yoo Jin Joo, Myeong-Ryeol Lee, Joon Kim, Michael J. Eck, Hyun Kyu Song
SJR Q1Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Molecular BiologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
4
Article|138 citations·2000
Mutational studies on HslU and its docking mode with HslV
Hyun Kyu Song, Claudia Hartmann, Ravishankar Ramachandran, Matthias Bochtler, Raymond Behrendt, Luis Moroder, Robert Huber
SJR Q1Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesOA

HslVU is an ATP-dependent prokaryotic protease complex. Despite detailed crystal and molecular structure determinations of free HslV and HslU, the mechanism of ATP-dependent peptide and protein hydrolysis remained unclear, mainly because the productive complex of HslV and HslU could not be unambiguously identified from the crystal data. In the crystalline complex, the I domains of HslU interact with HslV. Observations based on electron microscopy data were interpreted in the light of the crystal

Molecular BiologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
5
Article|106 citations·2013
Structural basis for recognition of autophagic receptor NDP52 by the sugar receptor galectin-8
Byeong-Won Kim, Seung‐Beom Hong, Junhoe Kim, Do Hoon Kwon, Hyun Kyu Song
SJR Q1Nature CommunicationsOA
ImmunologyImmunology and Microbiology
6
Article|102 citations·2011
Insights into noncanonical E1 enzyme activation from the structure of autophagic E1 Atg7 with Atg8
Seung‐Beom Hong, Byeong-Won Kim, Kyung-Eun Lee, Se Woong Kim, Hyesung Jeon, Joon Kim, Hyun Kyu Song
SJR Q1Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
EpidemiologyMedicine
7
Article|95 citations·2018
Insights into degradation mechanism of N-end rule substrates by p62/SQSTM1 autophagy adapter
Do Hoon Kwon, Ok Hyun Park, Leehyeon Kim, Yang Ouk Jung, Yeonkyoung Park, Hyeongseop Jeong, Jaekyung Hyun, Yoon Ki Kim, Hyun Kyu Song
SJR Q1Nature CommunicationsOA

p62/SQSTM1 is the key autophagy adapter protein and the hub of multi-cellular signaling. It was recently reported that autophagy and N-end rule pathways are linked via p62. However, the exact recognition mode of degrading substrates and regulation of p62 in the autophagic pathway remain unknown. Here, we present the complex structures between the ZZ-domain of p62 and various type-1 and type-2 N-degrons. The binding mode employed in the interaction of the ZZ-domain with N-degrons differs from tha

EpidemiologyMedicine
8
Article|94 citations·2001
Crystal Structure of Klebsiella aerogenesUreE, a Nickel-binding Metallochaperone for Urease Activation
Hyun Kyu Song, Scott B. Mulrooney, Robert Huber, Robert P. Hausinger
SJR Q1Journal of Biological ChemistryOA

UreE is proposed to be a metallochaperone that delivers nickel ions to urease during activation of this bacterial virulence factor. Wild-type Klebsiella aerogenes UreE binds approximately six nickel ions per homodimer, whereas H144*UreE (a functional C-terminal truncated variant) was previously reported to bind two. We determined the structure of H144*UreE by multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction and refined it to 1.5 A resolution. The present structure reveals an Hsp40-like peptide-binding dom

Materials ChemistryMaterials Science
9
Article|71 citations·2014
Insights into autophagosome maturation revealed by the structures of ATG5 with its interacting partners
Junhoe Kim, Seung‐Beom Hong, Jae Keun Lee, Sisu Han, Kyung-Hye Roh, Kyung-Eun Lee, Yoon Ki Kim, Eui‐Ju Choi, Hyun Kyu Song
SJR Q1AutophagyOA

Autophagy is a bulky catabolic process that responds to nutrient homeostasis and extracellular stress signals and is a conserved mechanism in all eukaryotes. When autophagy is induced, cellular components are sequestered within an autophagosome and finally degraded by subsequent fusion with a lysosome. During this process, the ATG12-ATG5 conjugate requires 2 different binding partners, ATG16L1 for autophagosome elongation and TECPR1 for lysosomal fusion. In our current study, we describe the cry

EpidemiologyMedicine
10
Article|66 citations·2003
Structural Basis of Degradation Signal Recognition by SspB, a Specificity-Enhancing Factor for the ClpXP Proteolytic Machine
Hyun Kyu Song, Michael J. Eck
SJR Q1Molecular CellOA
Molecular BiologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
11
Article|61 citations·2007
Structural Basis of SspB-tail Recognition by the Zinc Binding Domain of ClpX
Eun Young Park, Byung‐Gil Lee, Seung‐Beom Hong, Hyung-Wook Kim, Hyesung Jeon, Hyun Kyu Song
SJR Q1Journal of Molecular Biology
GeneticsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
12
Article|59 citations·2011
Structural Insights into the Conformational Diversity of ClpP from Bacillus subtilis
Byung‐Gil Lee, Min-Kyung Kim, Hyun Kyu Song
SJR Q1Molecules and CellsOA

ClpP is a cylindrical protease that is tightly regulated by Clp-ATPases. The activation mechanism of ClpP using acyldepsipeptide antibiotics as mimics of natural activators showed enlargement of the axial entrance pore for easier processing of incoming substrates. However, the elimination of degradation products from inside the ClpP chamber remains unclear since there is no exit pore for releasing these products in all determined ClpP structures. Here we report a new crystal structure of ClpP fr

Materials ChemistryMaterials Science
13
Article|59 citations·2018
The C-terminal region of ATG101 bridges ULK1 and PtdIns3K complex in autophagy initiation
Byeong-Won Kim, Yunjung Jin, Jiyea Kim, Junhoe Kim, Juneyoung Jung, Seongman Kang, Ick Young Kim, Joungmok Kim, Heesun Cheong, Hyun Kyu Song
SJR Q1AutophagyOA

: HORMA domain of Atg13 from Schizosaccharomyces pombe; SQSTM1/p62: sequestosome 1; ULK1: unc51-like autophagy activating kinase 1; UVRAG: UV radiation resistance associated; WIPI1: WD repeat domain: phosphoinositide interacting 1; ZFYVE1/DFCP1: zinc finger FYVE-type containing 1.

EpidemiologyMedicine
14
Article|56 citations·2019
Structural and Mechanistic Insights into Caffeine Degradation by the Bacterial N-Demethylase Complex
Jun Hoe Kim, Bong Heon Kim, Shelby M. Brooks, SeungYeon Kang, Ryan M. Summers, Hyun Kyu Song
SJR Q1Journal of Molecular Biology
BiochemistryBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
15
Article|51 citations·1999
Insights into eukaryotic multistep phosphorelay signal transduction revealed by the crystal structure of Ypd1p from Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Hyun Kyu Song, Jae Young Lee, Myong Gyong Lee, Jinho Moon, Kyeongsik Min, Jin Kuk Yang, Se Won Suh
SJR Q1Journal of Molecular Biology
Molecular BiologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Research Areas

Molecular BiologyMaterials ChemistryEpidemiologyImmunologyCell BiologyOncology

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