RIBOSWITCHES

该子项目是利用该技术的众多研究子项目之一 资源由 NIH/NCRR 资助的中心拨款提供。子项目及 研究者 (PI) 可能已从 NIH 的另一个来源获得主要资金， 因此可以在其他 CRISP 条目中表示。列出的机构是 对于中心来说，它不一定是研究者的机构。 所有生物都表达在特定时刻最需要其产品的基因。为了节省资源并提供对环境条件的高度适应性，生物体开发了不同的系统来感知各种物理和化学线索并将其传输到提供基因选择性表达的机器。虽然传感功能通常是由蛋白质执行的，但最近发现的调节电路涉及 mRNA 区域，称为核糖开关，能够直接和特异性地结合细胞代谢物。核糖开关存在于生命的各个领域，并且在包括致病物种在内的细菌中高度丰富，它们指导许多重要基因的表达，以响应各种代谢物，包括辅酶、氨基酸、糖和核碱基。每个核糖开关都折叠成进化保守的三维结构，通过与同源代谢物的相互作用而稳定。由于核糖开关通过其结构中的构象重排来调节基因表达，因此我们将研究重点放在核糖开关-配体复合物的三维结构的确定上。这些结构将揭示核糖开关控制基因表达的分子原理，并可能有助于合理设计新型代谢物样抗生素。

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. All living beings express those genes whose products are needed most at the given moment. To save resources and provide high adaptability to environmental conditions, organisms developed different systems to sense various physical and chemical cues and transmit them to the machinery that provides selective expression of genes. Though typically the sensing function is performed by proteins, recently discovered regulatory circuits involve mRNA regions, termed riboswitches, capable of direct and specific binding of cellular metabolites. Riboswitches are present in all kingdoms of life, and highly abundant in bacteria, including pathogenic species, where they direct expression of many vital genes in response to various metabolites, including coenzymes, amino acids, sugars, and nucleobases. Each riboswitch is folded into an evolutionary conserved three-dimensional structure stabilized by the interaction with the cognate metabolite. Since riboswitches modulate gene expression through conformational rearrangements in their structures, we have focused our research on the determination of the three-dimensional structures of the riboswitch-ligand complexes. The structures will uncover the molecular principles of riboswitch-controlled gene expression and may help in the rational design of novel classes of metabolite-like antibiotics.