LEAPS-MPS: Structural and Biophysical Studies of Bacterial Copper Acquisition and Regulation

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。在这个由数学和物理科学局资助的项目中，利哈伊大学的Oriana Fisher教授和她的学生将使用广泛的化学和生化技术研究铜离子在细菌中的行为。这项研究将提供对细菌如何处理铜的详细了解，这将有助于更好地理解抗生素耐药性的化学机制。费舍尔博士计划试行一项暑期研究项目，从理科代表性不足的群体中招收学生，这将扩大利哈伊的化学参与度，并将为一批从本科生过渡到研究生院的少数族裔学生提供长期指导。Fisher教授将从生物物理和结构上阐明在枯草芽孢杆菌中协调铜获得的蛋白质，目的是阐明铜是如何被细胞外识别和陪伴的，并研究YCN操纵子转录控制的结构和生物物理基础，这可能是理解细菌获得铜和调控的关键。虽然铜出口蛋白在整个进化过程中高度保守，但细菌中的铜进口蛋白似乎与真核生物的铜进口蛋白完全不同。以前的研究主要从生物学角度关注这一问题；该奖项下的研究将提供对支配这些过程的蛋白质的分子水平理解的新见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). In this project, funded by the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and housed in the Chemistry Division, Professor Oriana Fisher and her students at Lehigh University will study the behavior of copper ions in bacteria using a wide range of chemical and biochemical techniques. The research will provide a detailed understanding of how bacteria process copper, and this will help lead to a better understanding of the chemistry of antibiotic resistance. Dr. Fisher’s plan to pilot a summer research program that will recruit students from groups underrepresented in science will broaden participation in chemistry at Lehigh and will provide long-term mentoring of a cohort of underrepresented minority students as they navigate the transition from undergraduate the graduate school. Professor Fisher will biophysically and structurally elucidate proteins that orchestrate copper acquisition in Bacillus subtilis, with the aims of elucidating how Cu is recognized and chaperoned extracellularly and investigating the structural and biophysical basis for transcriptional control of the ycn operon, which may hold a key to understanding bacterial copper acquisition and regulation. While copper export proteins are highly conserved throughout evolution, copper importers in bacteria appear to be completely distinct from their eukaryotic counterparts. Previous studies have focused on this problemprimarily from a biological perspective; research under this award will provide new insight into a molecular level understanding of proteins that govern these processes.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.