CNIC: U.S.-Swedish Research on the Structure and Dynamics of Lipopolysaccharides (LPS)

这个为期一年的研究启动项目通过催化新的国际合作(CNIC)计划将一个新的美国-瑞典团队联系起来，该团队由堪萨斯大学的Owpil Im和斯德哥尔摩大学的Göran WidMalm领导，目的是利用计算和实验技术开展对内毒素(LPS)结构和动力学的合作研究。脂多糖分子是由类脂A、核心低聚糖和带有重复单元的O-抗原多糖组成的复杂的两亲性化合物。这些大而复杂的内毒素分子对革兰氏阴性细菌的结构和功能完整性都是至关重要的。内毒素的复杂性使它们的研究特别具有挑战性。在这一支持下，美国-瑞典团队将结合计算和核磁共振技术方面的专业知识，提高我们对单个糖苷糖键的结构和动力学以及这些键对整体脂多糖结构的影响的理解。同样令人感兴趣的是脂多糖在溶液和双层环境中结构和动力学的差异和相似之处。对这些重要基本问题的初步回答可能会产生更广泛的影响，有助于未来的研究，产生关于哺乳动物体内内毒素分子生物学影响的新知识，如发烧、感染性休克或其他有害的生理影响的原因。根据美国国家科学院出版社2012年出版的《转化糖科学：未来路线图》一书中的最近建议，美国和瑞典的合作伙伴还计划将教育内容整合到糖类领域的合作研究活动中。糖类是碳水化合物、糖和糖类的通称。除了为堪萨斯大学的一名参与者提供研究生培训外，PI还将有两名本科生参加，以获得计算葡聚糖生物物理学的早期职业经验。因此，在国外，每个美国学生都应该接触到美国-瑞典团队使用的一系列前沿计算和核磁共振技术。

This one-year research initiation project through the Catalyzing New International Collaborations (CNIC) program links a new U.S.-Swedish team, led by Wompil Im at the University of Kansas and Göran Widmalm at Stockholm University, for the purpose of developing cooperative research on the structure and dynamics of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) using computational and experimental techniques. An LPS molecule is a complex amphiphatic compound consisting of lipid A, a core oligosaccharide, and an O-antigen polysaccharide with repeating units. These large and complex LPS molecules are vital to both the structural and functional integrity of gram-negative bacteria. The complexity of LPS makes them particularly challenging to study. With this support, the U.S.-Swedish team will combine expertise in both computational and NMR techniques to improve our understanding of the structure and dynamics of individual glycosidic sugar linkages and the impacts of the linkages on the overall LPS structures. Also of interest are the differences and similarities of LPS structure and dynamics in solution and bilayer environments. Peliminary answers to these important fundamental questions may have broader impact by contributing to future research yielding new knowledge of the biological impact of LPS molecules in mammals, such as the cause of fever, septic shock, or other deleterious physiological effects.Responding to recent recommendations in the 2012 book "Transforming Glycoscience: A Roadmap for the Future," published by The National Academies Press, the U.S. and Swedish partners also plan to integrate an education component with the research activities of the collaboration in the area of glycans, a general term for carbohydrates, sugars, and saccharides. In addition to providing graduate student training for one participant from the University of Kansas, the PI will involve two undergraduate students for early career experience with computational glycan biophysics. Therefore while abroad, each U.S. student should gain valuable exposure to an array of forefront computational and NMR techniques used by the U.S.-Swedish team.