FASEB Summer Conference on Helicase and NTP-Driven Nucleic Acid Motors: Structure

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请是2007年FASEB夏季会议的部分资金，主题是“解旋酶和NTP驱动的核酸马达：结构、功能、机制和在人类疾病中的作用”。“会议将于2007年6月23日至6月28日在加州印第安威尔斯的凯悦大冠军度假村举行，由美国实验生物学协会联合会（FASEB）主持。将有九个主要的科学会议;每个会议将包括平均四到五个发言者，每个人提出一个25分钟的口头发言。还将有两个海报会议，这两个会议将持续两天。解旋酶是分子马达蛋白，其利用NTP水解的能量沿核酸单向沿着移位，分离核酸双链体的互补链。解旋酶/移位酶蛋白还可以使RNA的二级结构不稳定，去除与核酸片段结合的蛋白质，并促进DNA和RNA链通过各种孔、细胞壁和膜的移动。作为这些活性的结果，这些酶作为负责所有核酸事务的细胞机器的组成部分，包括DNA复制、修复、重组、转录、核糖体生物合成、翻译、RNA剪接、RNA编辑、RNA转运、RNA降解、细菌接合和病毒包装/解包装。最近的发现强调了解旋酶和移位酶对生物医学研究的中心性质，即几种遗传性人类疾病（例如Bloom综合征、Werner综合征、Cockayne综合征和着色性干皮病）是由编码特定解旋酶的基因缺陷引起的。解旋酶缺陷也与基因组不稳定性和癌症发病率增加有关。尽管这组蛋白质的重要性，然而，仍然有很多我们不了解解旋酶的结构和机制;我们知道解旋酶在复杂的过程中，如肿瘤发生和衰老的生物学作用更少。解旋酶/转位酶领域正在以极快的速度发展，每周都会出现对解旋酶的结构、功能和在人类疾病中的作用的新见解。这是自大约30年前发现第一个解旋酶以来第三次关于这个主题的FASEB会议（2005年的会议是通过EMBO组织的）。每届会议的需求都有所增加，进一步突出了整个科学界对这一研究领域的普遍兴趣。该提案将突出2007年FASEB会议的背景和目标，着眼于将结构生物学家、酶学家、生物化学家、遗传学家和临床医生聚集在一起，分享关于这些酶的想法和新信息，串扰是通知和促进未来研究突破的关键。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is for partial funding of the 2007 FASEB Summer Conference on "Helicases and NTP-Driven Nucleic Acid Motors: Structure, Function, Mechanism and Roles in Human Diseases." The conference will be held from June 23 to June 28, 2007 at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, CA under the auspices of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB). There will be nine major scientific sessions; each session will include an average of four to five speakers, each presenting a 25-minute oral talk. There also will be two poster sessions, both of which will last two days. Helicases are molecular motor proteins that use the energy of NTP hydrolysis to translocate unidirectionally along nucleic acids, separating the complementary strands of the nucleic acid duplex. Helicase/translocase proteins also can destabilize the secondary structure of RNA, remove proteins bound to nucleic acid segments, and facilitate the movement of DNA and RNA chains through various pores, cell walls, and membranes. As a consequence of such activities, these enzymes serve as integral components of the cellular machineries responsible for all nucleic acid transactions, including DNA replication, repair, recombination, transcription, ribosome biogenesis, translation, RNA splicing, RNA editing, RNA transport, RNA degradation, bacterial conjugation, and viral packaging/unpackaging. The central nature of helicases and translocases to biomedical research has been underscored by the recent discovery that several inherited human diseases (e.g. Bloom syndrome, Werner syndrome, Cockayne syndrome and Xeroderma pigmentosum) are caused by defects in genes encoding specific helicases. Helicase defects are also associated with genomic instability and an increased cancer incidence. Despite the importance of this group of proteins, however, there is still much that we do not understand about helicase structure and mechanism; we know even less about the biological role of helicases in complex processes like oncogenesis and aging. The helicase/translocase field is progressing at an extremely rapid pace, with new insights into architecture, function, and the role of helicases in human disease emerging on a weekly basis. This is the third FASEB meeting on this subject (the meeting in 2005 was organized through EMBO) since discovery of the first helicase about 30 years ago. Demand has increased with each session, further highlighting the general interest of this research area to the scientific community at large. This proposal will highlight the background and goals of the 2007 FASEB meeting, with an eye to bring together structural biologists, enzymologists, biochemists, geneticists, and clinicians to share ideas and new information on these enzymes, crosstalk that is key to inform and facilitate research breakthroughs in the future.