Collaborative research visit to the California Institute of Technology

加州理工学院合作研究访问

• 批准号: EP/L000067/1
• 负责人: Stuart Conway
• 金额: $ 2.32万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2013 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FL000067%2F1
• 关键词: Collaborative; research; visit; California; Institute

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.

类霍普诺素是一类鲜为人知的类固醇分子，由细菌产生。长期以来，人们一直认为何首乌类的分子化石揭示了重要微生物代谢作用(如氧气形成光合作用)的兴起历史，但最近来自Dianne Newman教授的实验室(加州理工学院)的结果挑战了这一解释。现在很明显，由于对它们在细胞内的功能缺乏了解，我们解释何首乌类化合物反映的地球化学和/或生物进化的能力受到了阻碍。纽曼教授对类霍帕尼素产生菌沼泽红假单胞菌Tie-1中类霍帕尼素的形成和定位的研究表明，在某些条件下，类霍帕尼素在生长和细胞分裂中起着至关重要的作用。为了在分子水平上了解它们的生物学作用，我们需要一个化学工具包来研究霍帕尼类化合物的定位，并确定结合它们的蛋白质。康威博士和纽曼教授的目标是共同开发这种分子工具箱。拟议的研究访问将使康威博士获得为这个工具包提供起点所需的技能，改进涉及提纯的一些过程，并尝试制造所需分子工具所需的一些化学反应。

项目成果

Pyocyanin degradation by a tautomerizing demethylase inhibits Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aag3180
• 发表时间: 2017-01-13
• 期刊: Science (New York, N.Y.)
• 作者: Costa KC;Glasser NR;Conway SJ;Newman DK
• 通讯作者: Newman DK

Quantitative hopanoid analysis enables robust pattern detection and comparison between laboratories.

• DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12132
• 发表时间: 2015-07
• 期刊: Geobiology
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: Wu CH;Kong L;Bialecka-Fornal M;Park S;Thompson AL;Kulkarni G;Conway SJ;Newman DK
• 通讯作者: Newman DK