STRUCTURAL STUDIES OF IRON TRANSPORT AND HOMEOSTASIS AND OF ARCHAEAL VIRUSES

该子项目是利用 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是 中心，不一定是研究者的机构。 一方面，全世界有超过10亿人患有贫血症。另一方面，遗传性血色病是最常见的常染色体隐性遗传病，在北方欧洲血统的人群中，其携带者频率约为1/10。已知许多其他铁超载疾病，通常导致50岁之前死亡。我们正在从事一些参与人体铁转运的蛋白质的结构研究，包括转铁蛋白受体（TfR）和铁还原酶的Steap家族。另一方面，最近的研究也表明转铁蛋白受体是藤黄酸的靶点，而藤黄酸会引发细胞凋亡。因此，我们也在研究TfR与更可溶的藤黄酸类似物复合的结构。最后，我们还研究了细菌和古细菌DPSL蛋白，一个新发现的铁蛋白超家族成员，包含一个定义？硫铁蛋白基序？这些蛋白质存在于最常见的厌氧人类病原体脆弱拟杆菌和多形拟杆菌中。第二个项目的重点是肠道病毒的结构研究。已知有超过5,000种病毒和噬菌体感染细菌和真核生物，然而，只有不到35种病毒被鉴定出来，主要是因为人们才刚刚开始寻找它们。第一个超嗜热泉古菌病毒基因组现已测序，它们通常与公共数据库缺乏同源性。因此，如果没有直接的生物化学和遗传学研究，很难确定这些病毒基因的功能。我们就这样参与了一场？从结构功能？该项目的重点是两个家庭的超嗜热crenarchaeal病毒。我们现在已经解决了13个泉古菌病毒蛋白的结构。这些研究提供了一个重要的洞察生命之树的第三个分支的病毒的生命周期，并有望提供一个窗口，许多基本的生化过程，其crenarchaeal主机。

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. On one hand, more than 1 BILLION people world-wide suffer from anemia. On the other, hereditary hemochromatosis is the most prevalent autosomal recessive disease known with a carrier frequency of approximately 1 in 10, in people of northern European extraction. Many other diseases of iron overload are known, often leading to death by age 50. We are engaged in structural studies of a number of proteins involved in human iron transport, including the transferrin receptor (TfR) and the Steap family of ferrireductases. In a different vein, recent work also shows that the transferrin receptor is a target for gambogic acid, which triggers apoptosis. Thus, we are also working towards the structure of TfR in complex with a more soluble gambogic acid analogue. Finally, we are also studying bacterial and archaeal DPSL proteins, a newly identified member of the ferritin superfamily that contain a defining ?thioferritin motif?. These proteins are present in the most common anaerobic human pathogens, Bacteroides fragilis and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. A second project focuses on structural studies of Archaeal viruses. More than 5,000 viruses and phage are known that infect bacteria and the eukaryotes, however, less than 35 Archaeal viruses have been identified, primarily because people are just beginning to look for them. The first hyperthermophilic crenarchaeal viral genomes have now been sequenced, and they generally show a lack of homology with the public databases. Thus it is difficult to assign function to these viral genes without direct biochemical and genetic studies. We are thus engaged in a ?function from structure? project that focuses on two families of hyperthermophilic crenarchaeal viruses. We have now solved structures for 13 crenarchaeal viral proteins. These studies are providing a significant insight into the life cycles of viruses from this third branch in the tree of life and are expected to provide a window onto many of the fundamental biochemical processes of their crenarchaeal hosts.