U.S.-Spain Cooperative Research: Studies of Interface-Folding-Energetics Relationship in Protein Fragment Recognition

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0072029TasaycoThis three-year award, which supports U.S. Spain cooperative research in molecular biology, involves Maria Tasayco of the City University of New York's City College and Jose Sanchez-Ruiz of the University of Granada and Angeles Jimenez of the Center for the Structure of Materials in Madrid, Spain. The objective of their research is to map out which regions from a family of complementary protein fragments are essential for their reassembly. Specifically, they will change the interface surface between folded complementary fragments while maintaining the overall architecture to produce a flat or intertwined interface with the Thioredoxin (Trx) model system. They will clarify how the interface affects the stability and the rate constant of dissociation/unfolding of the artificially generated heterodimers derived from Trx. The U. S. investigator brings to this collaboration expertise in designing, engineering, and generating protein fragments and conducting kinetic studies of folding/binding processes between protein fragments. This is complemented by the Spanish investigators' strengths in thermodynamic studies of protein folding and stability using calorimetry, and in NMR studies of proteins, protein fragments and their complexes. The research will advance our understanding of protein interactions occurring within living organisms and to design ways to modulate the affinity and specificity in protein folding/binding.