NifI Proteins of Methanococcus Maripaludis

Maripaludis 甲烷球菌的 NifI 蛋白

• 批准号: 0316251
• 负责人: John Leigh
• 金额: $ 43.46万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-07-15 至 2006-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0316251&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NifI; Proteins; Methanococcus; Maripaludis

A grant has been awarded to Dr. John Leigh at the University of Washington to study proteins involved in a novel mechanism of nitrogen regulation that occurs in certain methanogenic Archaea. Methanogenic Archaea are a group of microorganisms that produce methane as a metabolic product. In addition, some species of methanogenic Archaea can fix nitrogen, that is, convert atmospheric nitrogen to valuable ammonia nitrogen. The process of nitrogen fixation is rigorously regulated by microorganisms, because only when an organism is nitrogen-starved is it advantageous to obtain needed nitrogen via nitrogen fixation. The control of the activity of the enzyme that catalyses nitrogen fixation, nitrogenase, is one way in which the regulation occurs. Regulation of nitrogenase activity will be studied in Methanococcus maripaludis, a species that serves as a particularly good laboratory model. The focus will be on proteins called NifI1 and NifI2, which are hypothesized to sense the degree of nitrogen starvation and to interact with other proteins to effect regulation. The project will investigate the role of metabolic intermediates as indicators of nitrogen starvation, the interaction of those intermediates with NifI1 and NifI2, the modifications of NifI1 and NifI2 that might occur, and the interaction of NifI1 and NifI2 with other proteins that might be involved in the regulation of nitrogen fixation.The research will provide important training to graduate students, undergraduate students, and postdoctoral trainees, who will participate in the research activities. The research will also contribute to the resources available to the scientific community through the continued development of Methanococcus maripaludis as a model species for studies in the Archaea. The results will bear directly on teaching students the principles of regulation and of nitrogen assimilation by organisms. The regulation of nitrogen fixation has broad significance to human agriculture. Biological nitrogen fixation has huge environmental and nutritional importance because it is the primary means of cycling nitrogen from the atmosphere to the biosphere. The work should lead to fundamental new insights into the regulation of this process in a major group of organisms.

华盛顿大学的John Leigh博士获得了一项资助，用于研究与某些产甲烷古生菌中的氮素调节新机制有关的蛋白质。产甲烷古生菌是一组产生甲烷作为代谢产物的微生物。此外，产甲烷古细菌的一些物种可以固定氮，即将大气氮转化为有价值的氨氮。固氮过程受到微生物的严格调控，因为只有在生物缺氮的情况下，才有利于通过固氮获得所需的氮。控制催化固氮的酶--固氮酶的活性是这种调节发生的一种方式。固氮酶活性的调节将在甲烷球菌中进行研究，该物种是一个特别好的实验室模型。重点将放在名为NifI1和NifI2的蛋白质上，这两种蛋白质被认为是为了感知氮饥饿的程度，并与其他蛋白质相互作用来实现调控。该项目将调查代谢中间体作为氮饥饿的指示物的作用，这些中间体与NifI1和NifI2的相互作用，可能发生的NifI1和NifI2的修饰，以及NifI1和NifI2与其他可能参与氮固定调节的蛋白质的相互作用。该研究将为参与研究活动的研究生、本科生和博士后实习生提供重要的培训。这项研究还将通过继续发展地中海甲烷球菌作为古生物研究的模式物种，为科学界提供可用的资源。其结果将直接关系到向学生传授调节原理和生物吸收氮素的原理。固氮调控对人类农业具有广泛的意义。生物固氮具有巨大的环境和营养重要性，因为它是氮素从大气循环到生物圈的主要手段。这项工作应该会对在一大群生物体中调节这一过程产生根本的新见解。