Enzyme and Antibody Catalysts for Polyene Cyclization Reactions

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This award is made as the starter grant increment of Dr. John Griffin's Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemistry Award in support of his research at Stanford University. The thrust of Dr. Griffin's research is the isolation, purification and characterization of enzyme and antibody catalysyts for polyene cyclization reactions. Enzymatic activity of purified cyclase will be quantified and the amino acid and gene sequence will be determined. The cyclizing acive site will be studied through affinity labelling and directed mutagenesis experiments. This should permit the design and preparation of engineered enzymes having novel substrate and/or product specificities. Heterobicyclic immunogens will be synthesized which will elicit antibodies capable of initiating, directing and terminating the cyclization of diene epoxides. Once antibody catalysts have been identified, their mechanism of action will be studied. This should lead to a better understanding of sterol biosynthesis and macromolecular catalysis and may provide useful catalysts for the synthesis of sterols.