US-France Cooperative Research: Structural and Functional Study of Thioredoxins

该奖项将支持加州大学伯克利分校的Bob Buchanan博士和奥赛第巴黎大学的M. Miginiac- Maslow博士之间的合作研究。该项目的总体目标是将叶片和其他植物组织中新发现的氯外硫氧还蛋白h与绿色真核藻类莱茵衣藻中存在的m型硫氧还蛋白的结构和功能联系起来。理论毒素是广泛存在于自然界的低分子量蛋白质。在进行拟议的工作中，研究人员将确定参与硫氧还毒素与不同靶酶相互作用的结构域。他们计划进行定点诱变实验，赋予高等植物和藻类硫氧还毒素不同的活性（特异性），并将其转化为更像细菌或动物的特性。这些结果将深入了解决定硫氧还毒素特异性的结构特征，不仅适用于植物，也适用于动物和细菌。这项研究将为包括生物化学、医学和生物技术在内的几个领域增加基本的新知识。伯克利和奥赛团队的互补兴趣和专业知识，加上他们长期成功的科学合作记录，将有助于确保拟议研究的成功。

This award will support collaborate research between Dr. Bob Buchanan, University of California at Berkeley and Dr. M. Miginiac- Maslow, University of Paris-Sud, Orsay. The overall goal of the project is to relate the structure and function of the newly identified extrachloroplastic thioredoxin h of leaves and other plant tissues and of the m-type thioredoxins present in the green eukaryotic alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Theoredoxins are low- molecular-weight proteins that are widely distributed in nature. In pursuing the proposed work, the investigators will identify the structural domains involved in the interaction of thioredoxins with different target enzymes. They plan to perform site-directed mutagenesis experiments to confer different activities (specifici- ties) to the higher plant and algal thioredoxins and convert them to either a more bacterial or animal-like character. These results will provide insight into the structural features that determine the specificity of thioredoxins, not only of plants, but also of animals and bacteria. Research from this study will add fundamental new knowledge to several fields, including biochemistry, medicine and biotechnology. The complementary interests and expertise of the Berkeley and Orsay groups, together with their long-standing record of successful scientific cooperation, will help insure the success of the proposed research.