Collaborative research visit to the California Institute of Technology

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Hopanoids are a poorly understood class of steroid-like molecules produced by bacteria. It has long been assumed that hopanes, molecular fossils of hopanoids, reveal a history of the rise of important microbial metabolisms such as oxygen-forming photosynthesis, but recent results from Prof. Dianne Newman's laboratory (California Institute of Technology) have challenged this interpretation. It is now apparent that our ability to interpret what hopanes reflect about geochemical and/or biological evolution is hindered by a poor understanding of their function within cells. Prof. Newman's studies of hopanoid formation and localisation in the hopanoid-producing bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris TIE-1, suggest that hopanoids play a crucial role in growth and cell division under certain conditions. To understand their biological roles at the molecular level, we require a chemical toolkit to study hopanoid localisation and to identify the proteins that bind them. Dr Conway and Prof. Newman aim to jointly develop this toolkit of molecules. The proposed research visit will allow Dr Conway to acquire the skills required to produce the starting point for this toolkit, improve some of the processes involved in purification and try some of the chemical reactions required to make the required molecular tools.