Thermodynamics of Metal-Protein Interactions

该奖项由《2009年美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助。这一无机化学、生物无机化学和金属有机化学项目的研究奖支持达特茅斯学院的Dean Wilcox教授开展金属离子与蛋白质结合的基础研究。这项研究为生物体对必需金属的吸收、运输和输送以及有毒金属的隔离和出口提供了新的见解。使用量热仪测量金属离子与蛋白质结合时释放或吸收的热量，研究人员量化了金属和蛋白质对决定金属-蛋白质络合物稳定性的能量相关因素的相对贡献。在许多情况下，两种或两种以上的金属以异常高的稳定性结合到同一蛋白质上，这可能是储存必需金属或隔离有毒金属的基础。这项研究不仅带来了对金属-蛋白质相互作用的基本化学见解，还为学生提供了重要的培训，这些学生将成为下一代生物无机化学和生物化学家。此外，这项研究将开发和传播金属量热测量的协议，这是准确量化涉及金属离子的化学反应热力学所必需的。这项关于生物用来管理基本金属(例如铜、锌、铁)和处理有毒金属(例如镉、汞、砷)的化学研究的结果将为评估来自天然和人为来源的金属对环境的影响提供宝贵的信息。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Research award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program supports work by Professor Dean Wilcox at Dartmouth College to carry out fundamental studies of metal ions binding to proteins. The research provides new insight about the uptake, transport and delivery of essential metals, as well as the sequestering and export of toxic metals, by living organisms. Using calorimeters to measure the heat that is released or absorbed when metal ions bind to proteins, the investigators quantify the relative metal and protein contributions to the energy-related factors that determine the stability of metal-protein complexes. In many cases two or more metals bind to the same protein with an unusually high stability that may be fundamental to the storage of essential metals or to the sequestering of toxic metals. Not only is this research leading to fundamental chemical insight about metal-protein interactions but it is providing important training for students who will be the next generation of bioinorganic chemists and biochemists. In addition, this research will develop and disseminate the protocols for calorimetry measurements with metals, which are needed to accurately quantify the thermodynamics of chemical reactions involving metal ions. Results from this research on the chemistry that living organisms use to manage essential metals (e.g., copper, zinc, iron) and deal with toxic metals (e.g., cadmium, mercury, arsenic) will provide valuable information for assessing the environmental impact of metals from natural and man-made sources.