STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY OF SMALL MOLECULE SENSORS, CHANNELS AND ACTIVATORS

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 我们的实验室对一些以小分子的激活、运输和传感为中心的项目感兴趣。其中一个研究重点是与吡咯赖氨酸激活单甲胺相关的过程，吡咯赖氨酸是第22种遗传编码的氨基酸。利用SSRL收集的数据，通过对巴氏甲烷链霉菌单甲胺甲基转移酶的结构测定，发现了吡咯赖氨酸。我们希望通过确定与二甲胺和三甲胺激活相关的含有吡咯赖氨酸的蛋白质的结构来继续这一项目，以了解它们不同的特异性的起源。虽然这些甲基转移酶在功能上相似，但它们彼此之间没有明显的同源性。在吡咯赖氨酸领域内的一个相关目标是对吡咯烷基tRNA合成酶的结构测定，该合成酶用吡咯赖氨酸充电pyl-tRNA。第二个研究重点是阐明参与小分子运输和传感的蛋白质，特别是二氧化碳和氧气。其中一些是膜蛋白。SSRL的波束时间将用于促进这些蛋白质的结构确定。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Our laboratory is interested in a number of projects centered on the activation, transport and sensing of small molecules. One research focus centers on the processes associated with monomethylamine activation by pyrrolysine, the 22nd genetically-encoded amino acid. Pyrrolysine was discovered based on the structure determination of the Methanosarcina barkeri monomethylamine methyltransferase using data collected at SSRL. We wish to continue this project by determining the structures of the related pyrrolysine containing proteins involved in dimethylamine and trimethylamine activation to understand the origin of their distinct specificities. While these methyltransferases are functionally similar they exhibit no apparent homology with one another. A related target within the pyrrolysine area is the structural determination of the pyrrolysyl tRNA synthetase that charges pyl-tRNA with pyrrolysine. A second research focus is the elucidation of proteins involved in the transport and sensing of small molecules, particularly CO2 and O2. Some of these are membrane proteins. The beamtime at SSRL will be used to facilitate the structural determination of these proteins.