US-France Cooperative Research: New X-ray Techniques to Study Ligation State Changes in Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Charles W. Carter, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dr. Charles Zelwer, Centre de Genetique Moleculaire, Gif-sur-Yvette, France. Drs. Carter and Zelwer are presently involved in a project on the topic of three-dimensional structures of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. Their groups are working on enzymes for two different amino acids: Dr. Carter on the tryptophanyl enzyme from B. stearothermophilus and Dr. Zelwer on the methionyl enzyme from E. coli. The investigators each have different areas of expertise with data collection and phase determination methods and the proposed project will benefit from a combination of their experiences and resources. In this project, Drs. Carter and Zelwer plan 1) to cooperate on implementing and testing programs for an empirical absorption correction method for use in collected X-ray intensity data using three-circle goniometry and a two-dimensional area detector; 2) to complete data collection on a series of native and liganded form II methionyl-tRNA synthetase crystals; 3) to collect high resolution synchrotron data from one form of the tryptophanyl enzyme, and 4) to compare differences and similarities between different conformations of the two aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. The results of this research will contribute to our understanding of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases; these enzymes supervise translation of the genetic code by virtue of their ability to recognize and assemble specifically the twenty amino acids and their cognatetransfer RNA molecules.