Fundamental Gas-Phase Properties of Non-Protein Amino Acids and Non-Protein Amino Acid - Containing Peptides

非蛋白质氨基酸和含非蛋白质氨基酸的肽的基本气相性质

• 批准号: 0911244
• 负责人: John Poutsma
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: College of William and Mary
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0911244&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Fundamental; Gas; Phase; Properties; Non

In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program, Professor Poutsma from College of William and Mary and his students will investigate amino acids and their gas phase ion chemistry. The first goal is to understand the subtle interplay between the structure of amino acids and their gas-phase energetic properties. The researchers will focus on the gas phase thermochemistry of so-called non-protein amino acids (NPAA), many of which are toxic to humans and other animals in part due to structural similarity to one or more of the twenty common protein amino acids (PAA). Absolute gas-phase thermochemical properties will be determined for naturally-occurring non-protein amino acids (NPAA) as compared to their PAA counterparts, both as isolated amino acids and when incorporated into small peptides.The second goal focuses on the effects of NPAA-substitution into small peptides which will be accomplished by studying fragmentation patterns of PAA peptides and their NPAA analogs. There is biological relevance to this project in that many NPAA can mis-incorporate into peptides and proteins. Detailed knowledge of any unusual fragmentation behavior for peptides containing NPAAs will be necessary in order to interpret mass spectra from both top-down and bottom-up proteomics experiments. The ultimate goal is to better understand the mechanisms for "selective" fragmentations in low-energy tandem mass spectrometry experiments that lead to incomplete sequence coverage for the peptide of interest. The main function of a primarily undergraduate chemistry department is the preparation of future generations of scientists. At the College of William and Mary, this charge is accomplished through both classroom teaching and undergraduate research. Since over eighty percent of the College's chemistry majors perform undergraduate research, over the three years of this award it is anticipated that 15-20 undergraduate students will perform research in Professor Poutsma's laboratory. Based on current demographics, approximately one-half of these students will be either female or a member of an underrepresented group.

在这个由实验物理化学项目资助的奖项中，来自威廉玛丽学院的Poutsma教授和他的学生将研究氨基酸及其气相离子化学。第一个目标是了解氨基酸结构与其气相能量特性之间的微妙相互作用。研究人员将把重点放在所谓的非蛋白质氨基酸（NPAA）的气相热化学上，其中许多对人类和其他动物有毒，部分原因是它们与20种常见的蛋白质氨基酸（PAA）中的一种或多种结构相似。将测定天然存在的非蛋白氨基酸（NPAA）的绝对气相热化学性质，并将其与PAA相比较，无论是作为分离的氨基酸还是合并到小肽中。第二个目标是研究NPAA取代小肽的影响，这将通过研究PAA肽及其NPAA类似物的断裂模式来完成。该项目具有生物学意义，因为许多NPAA可以错误地结合到肽和蛋白质中。为了从自上而下和自下而上的蛋白质组学实验中解释质谱，对含有NPAAs的肽的任何异常断裂行为的详细了解是必要的。最终目标是更好地理解低能串联质谱实验中“选择性”片段的机制，这些片段导致感兴趣的肽的序列覆盖不完整。化学系的主要功能是培养未来的科学家。在威廉玛丽学院，这种收费是通过课堂教学和本科生研究来完成的。由于该学院80%以上的化学专业学生从事本科研究，因此在该奖项颁发的三年内，预计将有15-20名本科生在Poutsma教授的实验室进行研究。根据目前的人口统计数据，这些学生中大约有一半是女性或代表性不足的群体的成员。