VIBRATIONS, STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF BIOMACROMOLECULES

该项目的总体长期目标是开发新方法 用于生物大分子的结构和动力学分析 系统，并使用这些方法来提供在分子的洞察力， 这些系统的生物学相关特性。 的 要使用的主要技术是振动光谱， 要研究的主要系统是脂质双层和脂质相关的 模型系统 提出了一种模拟红外、 无序链分子组装的拉曼光谱，例如 存在于脂双层的烃组分中， 开发 这种方法是最近开发的 在我们实验室的液体正构烷烃，测试后，观察到 光谱，将显着扩大目前的适用范围， 振动光谱诊断脂质双层结构。 另一种有待开发的新方法是为研究 混合脂双层中组分在其凝胶中的微聚集 状态 这种方法，利用晶体带分裂在红外线 光谱，并已在我们的实验室使用，以研究 二元正构烷烃混合物中的微相分离，可用于 测量1-100个分子的脂质结构域，其大小远小于 可以使用当前可用的任何方法。 光谱模拟 方法和微聚集方法将与 理论和其他实验技术，研究分子 磷脂双分子层结构和分子运动以及与脂质相关的 系统.

The general long-term goals of this project are to develop new methods for the analysis of the structure and dynamics of biomacromolecular systems and to use these methods to provide insight at the molecular level into biologically relevant properties of these systems. The principal technique to be used is vibrational spectroscopy, and the principal systems to be studied are lipid bilayers and lipid-related model systems. A computational method for simulating the infrared and Raman spectra of an assembly of disordered chain-molecules, such as exists in the hydrocarbon component of a lipid bilayer, will be developed. This method, which is an extension of that recently developed in our laboratory for liquid n-alkanes, after testing with observed spectra, will significantly extend the current range of applicability of vibrational spectroscopy to the diagnosis of lipid bilayer structure. Another new method to be developed is designed for the study of the microaggregation of the components in a mixed-lipid bilayer in its gel state. This method, which exploits crystal band-splitting in infrared spectra and which has already been used in our laboratory to study microphase segregation in binary n-alkane mixtures, can be used to measure lipid domains of 1-100 molecules, sizes much smaller than is accessible to any method currently available. The spectral simulation method and the microaggregation method will be used, in conjunction with theory and with other experimental techniques, to study molecular structure and molecular motion in phospholipid bilayers and lipid-related systems.