Biochemical mechanism and structure of cold-stress proteins

我们经常听到人体是由70%以上的水组成的。现代生活让水看起来 几乎任何其他液体-潮湿和无趣。然而，对科学家来说，水是极其复杂的， 这些特性使其成为生命的必需品。我的研究重点是试图了解水是如何与 蛋白质以及蛋白质如何结合它们的目标。蛋白质是细胞和我们身体的构建模块和机器，细胞可以形成数万种不同版本的蛋白质，用于许多不同的功能。 我们将研究两种称为抗冻蛋白的特殊蛋白质，它们保护许多鱼类，昆虫， 植物和细菌从冻结到死亡，以及植物蛋白，这是提供保护的植物蛋白 在脱水的时候。防冻蛋白质与冰结合并抑制冰的生长， 通过防止蛋白质和细胞膜改变形状来防止脱水过程中的损伤。我们将研究这些蛋白质，因为它们都涉及水（或冰）的结合。了解这些蛋白质中的水结合将为我们提供信息，以了解一般蛋白质的水结合，以及水结合可能对重要蛋白质功能的影响。

We often hear how the human body is made up of over 70% water. Modern living has made water seem like almost any other liquid - wet and uninteresting. Yet to scientists water is extremely complex and its special properties make it essential for life. My research focuses on trying to understand how water interacts with proteins and how proteins bind their targets. Proteins are the building blocks and machinery of cells and our bodies, where cells can form tens of thousands of different versions of proteins for many different functions. We will examine two specific proteins called antifreeze proteins, which protect a number of fish, insects, plants and bacteria from freezing to death, and dehydrins, which are plant proteins that provide protection during dehydration. Antifreeze proteins bind to and inhibit the growth of ice, while dehydrins are thought to prevent damage during dehydration by preventing proteins and membranes from changing shape. We will study these proteins since they both involve the binding of water (or ice). Understanding water binding in these proteins will provide us with information to understand water binding of proteins in general, and the effect water binding may have on important protein functions.