Metal Sites in Ribozymes

德克萨斯农工大学化学系的维多利亚·德罗斯博士得到了美国国家科学基金会化学部无机、生物无机和有机金属化学项目的支持，她的工作是研究锤头状核酶中金属离子与RNA(核糖核酸)之间的相互作用，利用光谱方法探测定位于该核酶中特定位置的锰(II)和镉(II)的配体。这些研究将进一步了解核酶这一新型生物催化剂的金属依赖催化机理，以及金属对复杂RNA体系中结构和稳定性的贡献。学生和博士后将接受包括无机、光谱和生化学科在内的跨学科领域的培训。

Dr. Victoria DeRose of the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program of the Division of Chemistry, National Science Foundation, for her work on investigating interactions between metal ions and RNA (ribonucleic acid) in the hammerhead ribozyme, a small catalytic RNA, using spectroscopic methods to probe ligands bound to manganese(II) and cadmium(II) positioned at specific sites in this ribozyme.These studies will further our understanding of the metal-dependent mechanism of catalysis of ribozymes, which are novel biocatalysts, and the contributions of metals to the structure and stability in complex RNA systems. Students and post-doctoral associates will be trained in an interdisciplinary area that encompasses inorganic, spectroscopic and biochemical disciplines.