US-France Cooperative Research: Structural and Functional Study of Thioredoxins

该奖项将支持加州大学伯克利分校的Bob Buchanan博士和巴黎大学奥赛分校的M.Miginiac-Maslow博士之间的合作研究。该项目的总体目标是联系新发现的叶和其他植物组织的超绿体硫氧还蛋白h的结构和功能，以及绿色真核藻莱茵衣藻中存在的m型硫氧还蛋白的结构和功能。茶碱还蛋白是自然界中广泛分布的一种低分子蛋白质。在进行拟议的工作时，研究人员将确定硫氧还蛋白与不同靶标酶相互作用所涉及的结构域。他们计划进行定点突变实验，以赋予高等植物和藻类硫氧还蛋白不同的活性(特异性)，并将它们转化为更像细菌或动物的特征。这些结果将提供对决定硫氧还蛋白特异性的结构特征的洞察，不仅是植物的，而且是动物和细菌的。这项研究的研究将为包括生物化学、医学和生物技术在内的几个领域增加基本的新知识。伯克利和奥赛两个小组的利益互补和专业知识，加上他们长期成功的科学合作记录，将有助于确保拟议中的研究取得成功。

This award will support collaborate research between Dr. Bob Buchanan, University of California at Berkeley and Dr. M. Miginiac- Maslow, University of Paris-Sud, Orsay. The overall goal of the project is to relate the structure and function of the newly identified extrachloroplastic thioredoxin h of leaves and other plant tissues and of the m-type thioredoxins present in the green eukaryotic alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Theoredoxins are low- molecular-weight proteins that are widely distributed in nature. In pursuing the proposed work, the investigators will identify the structural domains involved in the interaction of thioredoxins with different target enzymes. They plan to perform site-directed mutagenesis experiments to confer different activities (specifici- ties) to the higher plant and algal thioredoxins and convert them to either a more bacterial or animal-like character. These results will provide insight into the structural features that determine the specificity of thioredoxins, not only of plants, but also of animals and bacteria. Research from this study will add fundamental new knowledge to several fields, including biochemistry, medicine and biotechnology. The complementary interests and expertise of the Berkeley and Orsay groups, together with their long-standing record of successful scientific cooperation, will help insure the success of the proposed research.