International Collaboration in Chemistry on Control of Excited State Proton Transfer in GFP

美国东北大学的Paul Champion和Timothy Sage教授与伦敦帝国理工学院的Jasper van Thor和Michael Bearpark教授合作，开展了绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）中激发态质子转移的基础研究，获得了化学系生命过程化学（CLP）项目的国际化学合作（ICC）奖。该项目利用了GFP中激发态质子转移的发生，这使得用激光脉冲触发反应并在超快的时间尺度上进行跟踪。在广泛的时间和温度范围内的测量将揭示热激活振动和量子力学对反应的影响。学生将获得国际经验，并接受尖端光学和生物技术的培训。质子转移是许多酶促反应的重要组成部分，而GFP提供了一个独特的机会来分离这种生物普遍存在的过程进行详细研究。这些研究将有助于理解生物系统如何控制代谢过程和操纵质子转移的能力，最终将有助于剪裁参与能量产生和全球生物地球化学循环的酶。

This International Collaboration in Chemistry (ICC) award in the Chemistry of Life Processes (CLP) program in the Division of Chemistry supports work by Professors Paul Champion and Timothy Sage at Northeastern University, in collaboration with Jasper van Thor and Michael Bearpark at Imperial College, London, to carry out fundamental studies on excited state proton transfer in green fluorescent protein (GFP). The project exploits the occurrence of excited state proton transfer in GFP, which allows the reaction to be triggered with a laser pulse and followed on ultrafast time scales. Measurements over a wide range of time and temperature will reveal the influence of thermally activated vibrations and quantum mechanical contributions to the reaction. Students will gain international experience and be trained in cutting edge optical and biological techniques. Proton transfer is a crucial component of many enzymatic reactions, and GFP provides a unique opportunity to isolate this biologically ubiquitous process for detailed study. These investigations will contribute to understanding how biological systems control metabolic processes and the ability to manipulate proton transfer will ultimately facilitate the tailoring of enzymes involved in energy generation and in global biogeochemical cycles.