CONFORMATIONAL CHANGES IN MOLECULAR MOTORS USING PARAMAGNETIC PROBES

我们的实验室有兴趣研究 分子马达、肌动蛋白-肌苷和微管-微管结合 蛋白质NCD和驱动蛋白。 研究这些变化的一种方法是 使用自旋探针（顺磁性探针），其结合在 蛋白质，并寻找力作用下的构象变化 使用EPR光谱产生。 为此，我们 合成了几种氮氧自旋探针。 这些是ATP类似物， 硅氢基试剂肽和其它化合物。 我们还 合成的重金属离子衍生物， 用于X射线晶体学研究的蛋白质。 我们使用了 鉴定这些化合物的质谱设备 以及导致其形成的中间体。

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.