NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2008

本行动资助2008年度NSF少数民族博士后研究奖学金。该奖学金支持奖学金获得者在主办实验室的研究和培训计划，该奖学金获得者还提出了扩大生物学参与的计划。查尔斯·e·斯图尔特的研究和培训计划的题目是“ III型聚酮合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·诺埃尔博士。聚酮合成酶是一种在植物和细菌中产生一系列惊人的天然产物的酶，在医学和农业中有着重要的用途。这些化合物的多样性与酶在生物合成过程中使用的各种环化机制有关。本研究探讨了具有不同功能的聚酮合酶的结构变化，从而产生不同的产物。用x射线晶体学研究了两种具有不同环化模式的密切相关的聚酮合酶的三维结构。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，特别是与天然产物、科学伦理和科学传播有关的技能。更广泛的影响包括通过针对不同年龄和教育程度的学生（从初中到博士后）的创新外展项目，增加少数民族的数量。这项研究将对各个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.