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）计划链接一个新的美国-由堪萨斯大学的Womenstein Im和斯德哥尔摩大学的Göran Widmalm领导的瑞典团队，目的是利用计算和实验技术对脂多糖（LPS）的结构和动力学进行合作研究。 LPS分子是由脂质A、核心寡糖和具有重复单元的O-抗原多糖组成的复杂的两亲性化合物。这些大而复杂的LPS分子对革兰氏阴性菌的结构和功能完整性都至关重要。LPS的复杂性使得它们的研究特别具有挑战性。 在这种支持下，美国-瑞典团队将结合联合收割机在计算和NMR技术方面的专业知识，以提高我们对单个糖苷糖键的结构和动力学以及键对整体LPS结构的影响的理解。 也感兴趣的是LPS的结构和动力学在溶液和双层环境中的差异和相似之处。 对这些重要的基本问题的初步回答可能会产生更广泛的影响，因为它有助于未来的研究，从而产生关于LPS分子在哺乳动物中的生物学影响的新知识，例如发热、败血性休克或其他有害生理效应的原因。美国和瑞典的合作伙伴还计划将教育部分与聚糖领域的合作研究活动相结合，聚糖是碳水化合物、糖和糖的总称。除了为来自堪萨斯大学的一名参与者提供研究生培训外，PI还将涉及两名本科生，以获得计算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获得美国使用的一系列前沿计算和NMR技术的宝贵机会。瑞典队

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.