Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, University of Louisville, Louisville, 2004 M.S. in Physical Chemistry, Perm State University, Perm, Russia, 1999 B.S. in Physical Chemistry, Perm State University, Perm, Russia, 1997
My research interests lie in the fields of the origin of life and computational structural and evolutionary biology. As a major theme of my research I am trying to characterize the oldest traceable macromolecules and machines of life, and the earliest discernible connection of the chemical RNA-based world to the biological RNA-DNA-protein world. I am also interested in the relationship between complexity of biological species and the change in the ribosomal structure over the course of evolution. Additionally, I work on the development of computational visualization tools integrated in a web-portal RiboVision, which provides an ability of simultaneous visualization of ribosomal complexes in multiple dimensions, comparison of three dimensional structures of different ribosomes, as well as the comparative analysis of RNA and protein sequences. RiboVision also allows the researchers to map multiple layers of various information (phylogenetic and structural information, experimental or modeling data) onto selected representations of ribosomes.
Petrov, A.S.; Bernier, C.R.; Hsiao, C., Williams, L.D. Evolution of the ribosome at atomic resolution. PNAS, 2014, 111(28):10251. Petrov, A.S.; Bernier, C.R.; Gulen, B., Waterbury, C. et al. Secondary Structures of rRNAs from All Three Domains of Life. PLOS ONE, 2014, 9(2), e88222. Petrov, A.S.; Bernier, C.R.; Waterbury, C. et al. RiboVision: Visualization and Analysis of Ribosomes. Faraday Discussions 169, 2014, DOI:10.1039/C3FD00126A Petrov, A.S.; Bernier, C.R.; Hershkovits, E. et al. Secondary Structure and Domain Architecture of the 23S and 5S rRNA. Nucleic Acids Research, 2013, 41(15), 7522-7535. Hsiao, C., Chou, I.-C., Okafor, C.D., Bowman, J.C., O’Neil, E.B., Athavale, S.S., Petrov, A.S., Hud N.V.,Wartell, R.M., Harvey, S.C., Williams, L.D. RNA with Iron(II) as a Cofactor Catalyses Electron Transfer. Nature Chemistry, 2013, 5, 525-528. Petrov, A.S., Douglas, S., Harvey, S.C. Effects of Pulling Forces, Osmotic Pressure, Condensing Agents, and Viscosity on the Thermodynamics and Kinetics of DNA Ejection from Bacteriophages to Bacterial Cells: a Computational Study. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 2013, 25(11), 115101. Hsiao, C., Peters, J.K., Lenz, T.K. Preeprem, T., Lie, L., Gossett, J., Bowman, J.C., O'Neill E.B., Petrov, A.S., Athavale, S.S., Trippe, C., Murray, J., Wartell, R., Harvey, S.C., Hud, N.V., Williams, L.D. “Molecular Paleontology: A Biochemical Model of the Ancestral Ribosome”. Nucleic Acids Research, 2013, 41(5), 3373-3385. Petrov, A.S.; Bernier, C.R.; Hsiao, C. et al. RNA-Magnesium-Protein Interactions in the Large-Ribosomal Subunit. J. Phys.Chem. B, 2012, 116, 8113-8120. Athavale, S.S.; Petrov, A.S.; Hsiao, C. et al. RNA Folding and Catalysis Mediated by Iron(II). PLoS One, 2012, 7, e38024. Petrov, A.S., Bowman J.C., Harvey, S.C., Williams L.D. Bidentate RNA-Magnesium Clamps: On the Origin of the Special Role of Magnesium in RNA Folding. RNA Journal. 2011 17(2) 291-297.