蛋白转运是一类主要的生物大分子跨膜转运过程。占蛋白总量三分之一的分泌型蛋白和膜蛋白的形成均需要通过正确的跨膜转运。一系列膜蛋白行使转运酶和转运通道的功能，帮助蛋白跨膜转运。大量临床数据显示，转运蛋白的突变会引起诸多与代谢相关的疾病。本项目从原核生物翻译后蛋白转运的过程入手，结合生物化学和结构生物学的方法，研究在转运多肽底物的过程中起关键作用的SecY通道和SecA马达等蛋白的功能。揭示这些蛋白如何相互作用，形成蛋白转运复合物，识别底物多肽，从而完成蛋白转运这一高效和受到精密调控的生物基本过程。本项目旨在解决跨膜转运的分子机理这一重大科学问题，同时将为理解相关疾病成因提供思路和为疾病治疗提供关键的药物靶点。

Protein translocation is one of the major cross-membrane movements of biological macromolecules in cells. The process is essential for correct folding of the secretory proteins and membrane proteins which account for more than 30% of the total cellular proteins. A number of membrane proteins are involved in protein translocation and act as translocases and channels. Mounting clinical data showed that a large number of human diseases are related to malfunction of protein translocation. Therefore, studies on the molecular mechanism of protein translocation will help to identify drug targets for the related diseases. Our lab will start with SecA-mediated protein translocation. We will focus on the key proteins involved in the translocation by combining biochemical and structural approaches. We aim to understand how these proteins interact with each other to form protein translocation machinery, to recognize the polypeptide substrates, and to regulate protein translocation in a sophisticated way.