Pressure apparatus for nuclear magnetic resonance studies of protein excited states

用于蛋白质激发态核磁共振研究的压力装置

• 批准号: 389701-2010
• 负责人: Prosser, Scott
• 金额: $ 2.42万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2009-01-01 至 2010-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=442991
• 关键词: Pressure; apparatus; nuclear; magnetic; resonance

We request funds to be able to perform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) studies at pressures between 1 bar and 2000 bar. The one-of-a-kind apparatus at the University of Toronto would be installed in an existing protein NMR facility and used by various researchers. Temperature and pressure are critically useful parameters in structure studies of macromolecules and proteins. Our main research interests include photo-switchable proteins and membrane proteins. In both cases, we may describe the proteins in terms of a ground state and one or more low-lying excited states. The excited states and excited state intermediates are often associated with the active form of the protein and are often the most elusive to understand. The application of a technique called NMR dispersion spectroscopy allows us to tease out the energy landscape associated with the protein and its excited state(s). By repeating these measurements as a function of pressure we can learn fundamental information about how the excited states are constructed. The apparatus permits us to make great leaps in our current research (e.g. specific volumes and compressibilities of excited states, water penetration of folded proteins, new information on photoswitchable proteins) and study pressure-dependent phenomena by high resolution NMR. We also believe that that the apparatus will forge new collaborations and establish new research niches for the applicants.

我们申请资金，以便能够在1巴至2000巴的压力下进行核磁共振（NMR）研究。多伦多大学的这种独一无二的设备将安装在现有的蛋白质核磁共振设备中，供各种研究人员使用。在大分子和蛋白质的结构研究中，温度和压力是非常有用的参数。我们的主要研究兴趣包括光开关蛋白和膜蛋白。在这两种情况下，我们都可以用基态和一个或多个低激发态来描述蛋白质。激发态和激发态中间体通常与蛋白质的活性形式相关，并且通常是最难以理解的。一种称为NMR色散光谱的技术的应用使我们能够梳理出与蛋白质及其激发态相关的能量景观。通过重复这些作为压力函数的测量，我们可以了解激发态是如何构造的基本信息。该设备使我们能够在我们目前的研究中取得巨大的飞跃（例如，激发态的特定体积和压缩，折叠蛋白质的水渗透，光开关蛋白质的新信息），并通过高分辨率NMR研究压力依赖性现象。我们还相信，该设备将建立新的合作，并为申请人建立新的研究利基。