Development of Circular Dichroism Methods to Study RNA-Metal Interactions

化学部特别项目办公室的启动基金支持印第安纳大学安德鲁·l·费格教授的研究。本研究的主题是发展一种基于圆二色光谱的观察金属与核酸结合的新方法。特别是，Mg2+离子在RNA生物化学中的作用将被检查。两种小rna的光谱检查将与探测金属结合的动力学研究进行比较。金属与rna的结合对生物活性至关重要。该项目的应用之一是深入了解具有催化活性的rna的机制。最终，这里开发的方法可用于研究蛋白质和核酸分子中各种各样的结构变化和其他动态过程。

This starter grant award of the Special Projects Office of the Chemistry Division supports the research of Professor Andrew L. Feig at Indiana University. The theme of the research is the development of a new methodology for observing metal binding to nucleic acids based on circular dichroism spectroscopy. In particular, the role that Mg2+ ions play in RNA biochemistry will be examined. Spectroscopic examinations of two small RNAs will be compared to kinetic studies that have probed metal binding.Metal binding to RNAs is essential for biological activity. One of the applications of this project is insight into the mechanisms of RNAs with catalytic activity. Ultimately, the methods developed here can be used to study a wide variety of structural changes and other dynamic processes in proteins and nucleic acid molecules.