NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2008

这一行动为NSF 2008财年少数民族博士后研究奖学金提供了资金。该奖学金支持在东道主实验室为该研究员制定的研究和培训计划，该研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与度的计划。查尔斯·E·斯图尔特的这项研究和培训计划的标题是“III型聚酮合成酶新功能进化的结构基础”。这项研究的主办机构是索尔克研究所，赞助科学家是约瑟夫·诺尔博士。聚酮合成酶是一种酶，能在植物和细菌中产生令人惊叹的一系列天然产物，在医学和农业中具有重要用途。这些化合物的多样性与酶在生物合成过程中使用的环化机制的多样性有关。本研究调查了聚酮合成酶的结构变化，这些聚酮合成酶表现出不同的功能，并导致不同的产物。用X射线结晶学研究了两个紧密相关、具有不同环化模式的聚酮合成酶的三维结构。对这些结构的比较将有助于确定负责不同环化模式的特定氨基酸。培训目标是获得酶学和结构生物学方面的技能，特别是与天然产品、科学伦理和科学交流有关的技能。更广泛的影响包括通过针对不同年龄段的学生的创新外联方案以及从初中到博士后水平的教育来增加少数群体的数量。这项研究将对学术学科产生广泛的影响，特别是生物学、化学生物学和天然产物化学领域。

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2008. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Charles E. Stewart is "Structural basis for the evolution of novel functions in type III polyketide synthases" The host institution for this research is the Salk Institute and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Joseph Noel.Polyketide synthases are enzymes that produce an amazing array of natural products in plants and bacteria that find important uses in medicine and agriculture. The diversity of these compounds is related to the variety of cyclization mechanisms used by the enzymes during biosynthesis. This research investigates the structural changes in polyketide synthases that show different functions and result in different products. The 3-dimensional structure of two closely related polyketide synthases with different cyclization patterns are being studied using x-ray crystallography. Comparison of these structures will help identify the specific amino acids responsible for the different cyclization patterns. The training objectives are to gain skills in enzymology and structural biology, especially as they relate to natural products, scientific ethics and science communication. The broader impacts include increasing the number of minorities through innovative outreach programs targeting students of various ages and education from the junior high to the post-doctoral level. This research will have broad impacts across academic disciplines, in particular the fields of biology, chemical biology, and natural product chemistry.