Molecular and structural biology of phycocyanobilin:ferredoxin oxidoreductases

智力优点：植物胆素是在从单细胞藻类到绿色植物的产氧光合生物中发挥重要捕光作用的色素。当附着在蛋白质（胆蛋白）上时，植物胆素收集光能来驱动蓝绿藻、红藻和褐藻的光合作用，并触发对在不断波动的光环境中生存至关重要的适应性信号通路。该项目的重点是铁氧还蛋白依赖性胆色素还原酶（FDBRs），一个家庭的金属自由基酶，负责合成植物胆色素色素前体的两类光传感器蛋白。使用各种生物化学和生物物理技术，本研究旨在通过X射线晶体学，分子生物学和生物化学分析的结合，在分子水平上阐明FDBR的功能。需要这种知识来开发FDBR的激活剂/抑制剂，其可用于增强光感知、地球上所有生命所依赖的放氧光合生物的生长和发育。这些研究还试图了解绿色藻类莱茵衣藻中独特FDBR基因的生物学作用，莱茵衣藻是一种产氧光合生物，缺乏所有已知的光敏胆蛋白。使用遗传，基因组和表型分析，这种生物体，该基因的功能的几个假设将进行评估。预计这些研究将导致深入了解胆色素代谢的新功能迄今尚未认识。由于衣原体保留了植物和动物共有的特征，因此这项研究不仅有望产生提高作物产量的新途径，而且可能揭示与人类/动物生理学和疾病相关的新的bilin依赖性调控途径。该研究项目的更广泛影响将通过在分子生物学，酶学，蛋白质化学，结构生物学，计算生物学和反向遗传学方法方面培训各级科学家（博士后，研究生，本科生和高中生）来整合研究和教育。本科生（包括代表性不足的少数民族学生）将进行这项研究的一些方面。此外，为了扩大代表性不足的群体和pto远程教学的参与，实验室参与了一些发展和少数民族培训计划，包括：穆尔普斯（少数民族本科研究参与物理科学），惊喜（夏季本科研究计划在科学和工程），BUSP（生物本科学者计划），并在高中课程，包括青年学者计划，种子（通过卓越和多样性计划在工程上取得成功），戴维斯高中高级生物技术班。该项目得到MCB生物分子系统集群和无机，生物无机，有机化学专业在CHE。

Intellectual merit: Phytobilins are pigments that perform significant light harvesting roles in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms from unicellular algae to green plants. When attached to proteins (biliproteins), phytobilins harvest light energy to drive photosynthesis in blue-green, red and brown algae, and trigger adaptive signaling pathways vital to survival in a constantly fluctuating light environment. This project focuses on ferredoxin-dependent bilin reductases (FDBRs), a family of metal-free radical enzymes that are responsible for the synthesis of phytobilin pigment precursors of both classes of light sensor proteins. Using a variety of biochemical and biophysical techniques, this research seeks to elucidate FDBR function at the molecular level via a combination of x-ray crystallography, molecular biology and biochemical analysis. Such knowledge is needed for development of activators/inhibitors of FDBRs that can be used to enhance light perception, growth and development of oxygen-evolving photosynthetic organisms upon which all life on earth depends. These studies also seek to understand the biological role of a unique FDBR gene in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, an oxygenic photosynthetic organism that lacks all known light sensing biliproteins. Using genetic, genomic and phenotypic analyses of this organism, several hypotheses for the function of this gene will be assessed. It is anticipated that such studies will lead to insight into new functions of bilin metabolism hitherto unrecognized. Since Chlamydomonas retains features common to plants and animals, this research is expected not only to yield new avenues to improve crop productivity, but could reveal novel bilin-dependent regulatory pathways of relevance to human/animal physiology and disease. The broader impact of this research project will integrate research and education by training scientists at all levels (postdocs, graduate, undergraduate and high school students) in the methods of molecular biology, enzymology, protein chemistry, structural biology, computational biology and reverse genetics. Undergraduates (including an underrepresented minority student) will conduct a number of aspects of this research. Additionally, to broaden participation of underrepresented groups and pto romote teaching, the labs participate in a number of development and minority-training programs, including: MURPPS (Minority Undergraduate Research Participation in the Physical Sciences), SURPRISE (Summer Undergraduate Research Program In Science and Engineering), BUSP (Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program), and in high school programs including Young Scholar Program, SEED (Success in Engineering through Excellence and Diversity Program), and Davis high school advanced biotechnology class.This project is being supported by the Biomolecular Systems cluster in MCB and the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry program in CHE.