Thermodynamics of Metal-Protein Interactions

金属-蛋白质相互作用的热力学

• 批准号: 0910746
• 负责人: Dean Wilcox
• 金额: $ 37.5万
• 依托单位: Dartmouth College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-07-15 至 2012-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0910746&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Thermodynamics; Metal; Protein; Interactions

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Research award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program supports work by Professor Dean Wilcox at Dartmouth College to carry out fundamental studies of metal ions binding to proteins. The research provides new insight about the uptake, transport and delivery of essential metals, as well as the sequestering and export of toxic metals, by living organisms. Using calorimeters to measure the heat that is released or absorbed when metal ions bind to proteins, the investigators quantify the relative metal and protein contributions to the energy-related factors that determine the stability of metal-protein complexes. In many cases two or more metals bind to the same protein with an unusually high stability that may be fundamental to the storage of essential metals or to the sequestering of toxic metals. Not only is this research leading to fundamental chemical insight about metal-protein interactions but it is providing important training for students who will be the next generation of bioinorganic chemists and biochemists. In addition, this research will develop and disseminate the protocols for calorimetry measurements with metals, which are needed to accurately quantify the thermodynamics of chemical reactions involving metal ions. Results from this research on the chemistry that living organisms use to manage essential metals (e.g., copper, zinc, iron) and deal with toxic metals (e.g., cadmium, mercury, arsenic) will provide valuable information for assessing the environmental impact of metals from natural and man-made sources.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该研究奖在无机，生物无机和有机物化学计划支持由院长Wilcox教授在达特茅斯学院开展金属离子结合蛋白质的基础研究工作。这项研究为生物体对必需金属的吸收、运输和输送以及有毒金属的螯合和出口提供了新的见解。使用量热计测量金属离子与蛋白质结合时释放或吸收的热量，研究人员量化了金属和蛋白质对决定金属-蛋白质复合物稳定性的能量相关因素的相对贡献。 在许多情况下，两种或更多种金属以异常高的稳定性与同一蛋白质结合，这可能是储存必需金属或螯合有毒金属的基础。 这项研究不仅导致了对金属-蛋白质相互作用的基本化学见解，而且为将成为下一代生物无机化学家和生物化学家的学生提供了重要的培训。此外，这项研究将开发和传播金属量热测量的协议，这是准确量化涉及金属离子的化学反应热力学所必需的。这项关于生物体用于管理必需金属的化学研究的结果（例如，铜、锌、铁）和处理有毒金属（例如，镉、汞、砷）将为评估自然和人为来源的金属对环境的影响提供有价值的信息。