Metal Sites in Ribozymes

德克萨斯州农工大学化学系的维多利亚·德罗斯博士&因其研究金属离子与RNA之间相互作用的工作而受到国家科学基金会化学部无机、生物无机和有机化学项目的支持锤头状核酶中的核糖核酸，一种小的催化RNA，利用光谱方法探测与锰（II）和镉（II）结合的配体这些研究将进一步加深我们对核酶这一新型生物催化剂的金属依赖性催化机制以及金属对复杂RNA系统结构和稳定性的贡献的理解。学生和博士后助理将在一个跨学科领域，包括无机，光谱和生物化学学科的培训。

Dr. Victoria DeRose of the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program of the Division of Chemistry, National Science Foundation, for her work on investigating interactions between metal ions and RNA (ribonucleic acid) in the hammerhead ribozyme, a small catalytic RNA, using spectroscopic methods to probe ligands bound to manganese(II) and cadmium(II) positioned at specific sites in this ribozyme.These studies will further our understanding of the metal-dependent mechanism of catalysis of ribozymes, which are novel biocatalysts, and the contributions of metals to the structure and stability in complex RNA systems. Students and post-doctoral associates will be trained in an interdisciplinary area that encompasses inorganic, spectroscopic and biochemical disciplines.