CAREER: CAS: Understanding the Coordination Chemistry of Lanthanide-binding Proteins for Rare Earth Element Sensing, Capture, and Recycling

职业：CAS：了解用于稀土元素传感、捕获和回收的稀土结合蛋白的配位化学

• 批准号: 1945015
• 负责人: Joseph Cotruvo
• 金额: $ 81万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-02-01 至 2025-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1945015&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; CAS; Understanding; Coordination; Chemistry

The seventeen rare earth elements, which include the lanthanides, play critical and often irreplaceable roles in a broad range of devices ranging from cell phones to fighter jets. However, the production of rare earth-containing starting materials is currently an inefficient and environmentally unfriendly process. The recent discovery of organisms that utilize certain lanthanides for specific cellular functions suggests that learning how these organisms selectively take up and use lanthanides could lead to the development of new methods for the efficient detection, capture, and recycling of these important elements. This project of Professor Cotruvo from the Pennsylvania State University and funded by the Chemistry Of Life Processes Program seeks to characterize metal binding to natural lanthanide-binding proteins, a first step in setting the groundwork for potential applications of these proteins in rare earth harvesting and recycling. The outreach efforts of this program focus on the education of the next generation of scientists. A primary objective is the implementation of a professional development program that includes lab rotations for freshmen and sophomores at Penn State. The goal of the program is to help the undergraduate students discover chemistry research questions about which they are passionate and to lower the barriers to pursuing undergraduate research for these students.The over-arching goal of this research project is to gain a fundamental understanding of how biological systems selectively recognize lanthanides over other, more abundant metal ions. Recent studies have shown that lanthanides are specifically utilized by certain bacteria. This research follows from the recent discovery and preliminary characterization of the first lanthanide-binding proteins that are not enzymes. These novel proteins may be used in the future to address the challenging chemical problem of harvesting lanthanides and other rare earth elements because they bind lanthanides reversibly and selectively. The project aims to use a variety of structural and spectroscopic methods to elucidate the lanthanide coordination by Methylorubrum extorquens lanmodulin, a recently discovered protein that binds lanthanides with picomolar affinity and million-fold selectivity over many other common elements.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

包括镧系元素在内的17种稀土元素在从手机到战斗机的各种设备中发挥着关键且往往不可替代的作用。然而，含稀土起始材料的生产目前是一种效率低且对环境不友好的方法。最近发现的生物体利用某些镧系元素的特定细胞功能表明，了解这些生物体如何选择性地吸收和使用镧系元素可能会导致开发新的方法来有效地检测，捕获和回收这些重要元素。来自宾夕法尼亚州立大学的Cotruvo教授的这个项目由生命过程化学计划资助，旨在表征金属与天然镧系元素结合蛋白的结合，这是为这些蛋白在稀土收获和回收中的潜在应用奠定基础的第一步。该计划的推广工作侧重于下一代科学家的教育。一个主要目标是实施一个专业发展计划，其中包括在宾夕法尼亚州立大学的新生和大学生的实验室轮换。该项目的目标是帮助本科生发现他们热衷的化学研究问题，并降低这些学生进行本科研究的障碍。该研究项目的首要目标是从根本上了解生物系统如何选择性地识别镧系元素而不是其他更丰富的金属离子。最近的研究表明，镧系元素被某些细菌特异性地利用。这项研究是最近发现和初步表征的第一个镧系元素结合蛋白，而不是酶。这些新的蛋白质可能在未来用于解决具有挑战性的化学问题，收获镧系元素和其他稀土元素，因为他们结合镧系元素可逆和选择性。该项目旨在利用各种结构和光谱方法来阐明Methylorubrum extorquens lanmodulin的镧系元素配位作用。Methylorubrum extorquens lanmodulin是最近发现的一种蛋白质，与镧系元素的结合具有皮摩尔亲和力和数百万倍的选择性，超过许多其他常见元素。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。