U.S-Japan Cooperative Science: Spectroscopic Study of Inter-and Intra-Molecular Interactions related to Information Transmission and Peptide-Chain Folding

9909198家庭该奖项支持日本国家标准技术研究所(NIST)的Jon Hougen博士和日本金泽大学的Nobukimi Ohashi教授之间为期两年的合作研究项目。研究人员将对与信息传递和肽链折叠相关的分子间和分子内相互作用进行光谱研究。该项目的信息传输部分将主要利用喷射冷却分子束微波光谱学技术和基团理论推导的有效隧穿哈密顿量来研究信息是如何在能够进行大幅度振动运动的官能团之间传输的，距离太大，直接空间相互作用不重要。特别是，一个官能团如何感觉到另一个官能团的构象或络合程度的变化。虽然这项研究将限于气相中相当小的分子，因为它们希望记录旋转分辨光谱，但从高分辨率光谱技术获得的高精度和高确定性的结果应该部分抵消了不直接研究更重要的相关问题--由生物大分子的对接现象刺激的构象变化--的缺点。该项目的蛋白质链折叠部分将使用喷射冷却分子束太赫兹光谱学来确定小(即可蒸发)蛋白质模拟中肽连接周围的振动频率和扭转运动的势函数，并结合类似的微波研究来确定一些低能构象的精确折叠结构。结构测定也将扩展到未支链的烯烃或烷烃，它们代表最简单的直链碳链骨架。该项目汇集了两个拥有互补专业知识和研究能力的实验室的努力。研究结果将提供重要的、质的新信息。这项研究通过博士后的参与促进了国际人力资源的发展。通过思想和技术的交流，这个项目将扩大我们的基础知识基础，促进国际理解与合作。研究人员计划在科学期刊上发表研究结果，并在科学会议上报告研究结果。

9909198HougenThis award supports a two-year collaborative research project between Dr. Jon Hougen of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and Professor Nobukimi Ohashi of the Kanazawa University in Japan. The researchers will be undertaking a spectroscopic study of inter-and intra-molecular interactions related to information transmission and peptide-chain folding. The information transmission part of the project will investigate, using primarily the techniques of jet-cooled molecular-beam microwave spectroscopy and group-theoretically derived effective tunneling Hamiltonians, how information is transmitted between functional groups capable of large-amplitude vibrational motion, over distances too large for direct steric interactions to be important. In particular, how does one functional group sense changes in conformation or degree of complexation of another functional group. While the study will be limited to rather small molecules in the gas phase by their desire to record rotationally resolved spectra, the high precision and high certainty of results obtainable from high-resolution spectroscopic techniques should partially offset the disadvantage of not studying directly the more important related question of conformational changes stimulated by docking phenomena in large biological molecules. The protein chain folding part of the project will use jet-cooled molecular-beam terahertz spectroscopy to determine vibrational frequencies and potential functions for torsional motions around the peptide linkage in small (i.e. vaporizable) protein mimetics, coupled with similar microwave studies to determine precise folding structures for a number of low-energy conformations. The structural determinations will also be extended to unbranched alkenes or alkanes, which represent the simplest straight-chain carbon backbone skeletons. The project brings together the efforts of two laboratories that have complementary expertise and research capabilities. Results of the research will provide important, qualitatively new information. This research advances international human resources through the participation of a postdoc. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. The researchers plan to publish results of the research in scientific journals and report on the findings at scientific meetings.