CONFORMATIONAL CHANGES IN MOLECULAR MOTORS USING PARAMAGNETIC PROBES

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Our lab is interested in studying conformational changes in the molecular motors, actin-myosine and microtubules-microtubules binding proteins ncd and kinesin. One way of studying these changes is by using spin probes (paramagnetic probes) that bind at specific sites of the protein and look for conformational changes during force generation using EPR spectroscopy. For this reason we have synthesized several nitroxide spin probes. These are ATP analogs, silfhydryl reagent peptides and other compounds. We have also synthesized heavy metal ion derivatives to hit specific targets on proteins for x-ray crystalographic studies. We used the massspectrometry facility for the identification of these compounds and the intermediates leading to their formation.