U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Biochemical and Genetic Dissection of Tn10 Transposon Termini

该奖项将支持哈佛大学的Nancy Kleckner教授和巴黎巴斯德研究所的Olivier Huisman博士在突变蛋白质遗传分析领域的合作研究。这项工作的目标是对基因片段末端的DNA序列进行结构和功能的剖析，基因片段能够在有机体的染色体中从一个地方移动到另一个地方。这样的基因片段被称为转座子；本研究中要研究的特定转座子被称为Tn10。转座子的转座会导致突变，发生的突变需要用遗传学和生物化学的方法来研究。在后者中，重要蛋白质与特定DNA序列结合的分析应该揭示特定突变对已知过程的影响，并可能显示由于中间突变步骤而可能积累的反应中的新中间产物。法国合作者在基因分析方面有相当丰富的经验。美国研究人员将为该项目带来更多材料，以及使用体外生化系统分析Tn10转座的专业知识。这项研究预计将产生DNA和蛋白质之间复杂相互作用的知识，这可能会增强我们对生命本身生成过程的理解，从而提高对生命本身变化过程的理解。

This award will support collaborative research between Prof. Nancy Kleckner of Harvard University and Dr. Olivier Huisman of the Institut Pasteur, Paris, in the area of genetic analysis of mutant proteins. The objective of this work is the structural and functional dissection of DNA sequences at the ends of a gene segment, which is capable of moving from place to place in the chromosomes of an organism. Such a gene segment is called a transposon; the particular transposon to be studied in this work is called Tn10. Transposition of transposons leads to mutation, and the mutations which occur are to be studied by both genetic and biochemical methods. In the latter, assays for the binding of important proteins to specific DNA sequences should reveal the effects of specific mutations on known processes, and could show new intermediates in the reaction which might accumulate due to intermediate mutational steps. The French collaborators have considerable experience in genetic analysis. Additional materials, as well as expertise in use of an in vitro biochemical system for analysis of the Tn10 transposition, will be brought to the project by the U.S. investigator. The knowledge of complex interactions between DNA and proteins that is expected to result from this research could lead to enhanced progress in our understanding of the processes of the generation, and therefore of alteration, of life itself.