STRUCTURAL STUDIES OF TRANSMEMBRANE SIGNALING COMPLEXES AND NOVEL THERAPEUTIC AG

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. These studies focus on physiologically transient transmembrane complexes that are required for disease progression and novel therapies to treat infections. These two research areas each encompass three sub-projects. Our first focus is on transmembrane complexes. Seemingly disparate signaling proteins form complexes across the membrane, but likely share over-arching mechanisms of signaling mediated by conformational changes, electrostat-ics, or changes in dynamics. Our studies use several model systems. Determination of the structures of transmembrane signaling complexes is at the cutting edge of structural biology. The initial crystals diffract poorly and require diffraction-based feedback to improve the diffraction limit to reasonable resolution. Our second focus is on developing novel therapies for bacterial and HIV infections. Here, we are determining the structures of enzymes that synthesize therapeutic compounds in order to improve or tune the efficiency of the chemical reaction.