CAREER: CAS: Understanding the Coordination Chemistry of Lanthanide-binding Proteins for Rare Earth Element Sensing, Capture, and Recycling

包括镧系元素在内的17种稀土元素在从手机到战斗机的各种设备中发挥着至关重要的作用，而且往往是不可替代的。然而，含稀土原料的生产目前是一种低效率和不环保的过程。最近发现的利用某些镧系元素实现特定细胞功能的生物表明，了解这些生物如何选择性地吸收和使用镧系元素可能会导致开发有效检测、捕获和回收这些重要元素的新方法。宾夕法尼亚州立大学的Cotruvo教授的这个项目由生命过程化学项目资助，旨在表征金属与天然镧系结合蛋白的结合，这是为这些蛋白在稀土收获和回收中的潜在应用奠定基础的第一步。这个项目的外展工作集中在下一代科学家的教育上。主要目标是实施一项专业发展计划，其中包括宾夕法尼亚州立大学大一和大二学生的实验室轮转。该计划的目标是帮助本科生发现他们感兴趣的化学研究问题，并为这些学生降低追求本科研究的障碍。这项研究项目的首要目标是获得对生物系统如何选择性地识别镧系元素而不是其他更丰富的金属离子的基本理解。最近的研究表明，某些细菌特别利用镧系元素。这项研究是在最近发现并初步表征了第一个不是酶的镧系结合蛋白之后进行的。这些新型蛋白质可能在未来用于解决收集镧系元素和其他稀土元素的挑战性化学问题，因为它们可逆地和选择性地结合镧系元素。该项目旨在使用各种结构和光谱方法来阐明甲基蓝调蛋白与镧系元素的配位作用。甲基蓝调蛋白是一种最近发现的蛋白质，它能以小摩尔亲和力结合镧系元素，比许多其他常见元素具有百万倍的选择性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The seventeen rare earth elements, which include the lanthanides, play critical and often irreplaceable roles in a broad range of devices ranging from cell phones to fighter jets. However, the production of rare earth-containing starting materials is currently an inefficient and environmentally unfriendly process. The recent discovery of organisms that utilize certain lanthanides for specific cellular functions suggests that learning how these organisms selectively take up and use lanthanides could lead to the development of new methods for the efficient detection, capture, and recycling of these important elements. This project of Professor Cotruvo from the Pennsylvania State University and funded by the Chemistry Of Life Processes Program seeks to characterize metal binding to natural lanthanide-binding proteins, a first step in setting the groundwork for potential applications of these proteins in rare earth harvesting and recycling. The outreach efforts of this program focus on the education of the next generation of scientists. A primary objective is the implementation of a professional development program that includes lab rotations for freshmen and sophomores at Penn State. The goal of the program is to help the undergraduate students discover chemistry research questions about which they are passionate and to lower the barriers to pursuing undergraduate research for these students.The over-arching goal of this research project is to gain a fundamental understanding of how biological systems selectively recognize lanthanides over other, more abundant metal ions. Recent studies have shown that lanthanides are specifically utilized by certain bacteria. This research follows from the recent discovery and preliminary characterization of the first lanthanide-binding proteins that are not enzymes. These novel proteins may be used in the future to address the challenging chemical problem of harvesting lanthanides and other rare earth elements because they bind lanthanides reversibly and selectively. The project aims to use a variety of structural and spectroscopic methods to elucidate the lanthanide coordination by Methylorubrum extorquens lanmodulin, a recently discovered protein that binds lanthanides with picomolar affinity and million-fold selectivity over many other common elements.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.