Helix Conformational Effects on the Acidities of Helical Peptides

螺旋构象对螺旋肽酸度的影响

• 批准号: 0749737
• 负责人: Jianhua Ren
• 金额: $ 33万
• 依托单位: University of the Pacific
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-08-01 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0749737&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Helix; Conformational; Effects; Acidities; Helical

In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Jianhua Ren of the University of the Pacific, together with her postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate student researchers, will study the gas-phase acidities of a series of designed model peptides in order to build up a model of how secondary structure (primarily helix content) influences the pKas of the individual amino acids. These studies will be carried out through a combination of experimental (mass spectrometric) and theoretical (computational) methods.Amino acids are the basic building blocks of proteins, and understanding protein structure and function is a major goal of molecular biology, proteomics, and a host of biochemical enterprises. Work like that done in the Ren group can help to shed light on the ways in which a protein's structure can influence its fundamental chemistry. A near-term result of this research may be improved computer algorithms for protein sequencing and identification used in modern laboratories. In addition to the broader scientific impact of Prof. Ren's research, she will vigorously recruit young researchers from the local colleges and universities (ones without active research programs) as well as from local high schools -- thus training a large number of young people in modern biophysical methods.

该奖项由化学系实验物理化学计划资助，太平洋大学的Jianhua Ren教授及其博士后，研究生和本科生研究人员将研究一系列设计的模型肽的气相酸度，以建立二级结构（主要是螺旋含量）如何影响单个氨基酸的pKas的模型。 这些研究将通过实验（质谱）和理论（计算）相结合的方法进行。氨基酸是蛋白质的基本组成部分，了解蛋白质的结构和功能是分子生物学、蛋白质组学和许多生物化学企业的主要目标。 Ren小组所做的工作可以帮助阐明蛋白质结构影响其基本化学的方式。 这项研究的近期成果可能是改进现代实验室中使用的蛋白质测序和鉴定的计算机算法。 除了任教授的研究产生更广泛的科学影响外，她还将积极从当地的大专院校（没有活跃的研究项目的大学）和当地的高中招募年轻的研究人员，从而培养大量的现代生物物理方法的年轻人。