SFB 746: Functional Specificity by Coupling and Modification of Proteins

在任何器官或有机体中，细胞的功能和完整性都是由许多细胞过程的协同作用保证的，这些细胞过程是由大量紧密相连的功能单元实现的。事实上，蛋白质组学研究发现，许多这样的单位是不同复杂性的蛋白质组合。然而，到目前为止，只有有限数量的来自不同细胞区室的这样的组件被成功地研究了，其中大多数正在等待它们的结构和功能意义的表征。因此，当前和未来蛋白质和细胞研究的核心挑战是阐明这些复杂蛋白质组合的组成、功能和动力学，并了解它们如何在蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用的基础上产生细胞和生物系统精密精确工作所需的功能多样性和特异性。合作研究中心在过去两个资助期的工作，导致在国际顶级期刊上发表了一系列文章，表明蛋白质复合物表现出不同程度的复杂性：具有明确输出的单个蛋白质复合物，为共同任务合作的蛋白质超级复合物，最后是蛋白质网络，使用更广泛的信号集成来传达其高度特定输出的更大实体。这些蛋白质复合物像“纳米机器”一样运作，并包含许多未知的蛋白质成分。这种纳米机器对于基因表达的控制、蛋白质的分类和跨膜的快速信号转导过程至关重要。在第三个资助期，“蛋白质编码功能特异性机制”的研究，重点是蛋白质偶联和修饰，将继续使用多学科方法，整合不同细胞系统和过程的分析。SFB是医学院（大学医院的基础研究机构和研究小组）、生物学院和马克斯普朗克免疫生物学和表观遗传学研究所的团体和机构的联盟，它们在研究活动中密切相关；这些紧密的联系以及年轻研究人员的大力支持是SFB成功的基础，SFB代表了弗赖堡大学生命科学的核心部分。

Function and integrity of cells within any organ or organism is guaranteed by the concerted action of many cellular processes that are realized by a large number of closely interconnected functional units. In fact, proteomic research identified numerous of these units as protein assemblies of distinct complexity. As yet, however, only a limited number of such assemblies from various cellular compartments have been successfully investigated, most of them await characterization of their architecture and functional significance. The central challenge of current and future protein and cellular research is, therefore, to elucidate composition, function and dynamics of these complex protein assemblies and to understand how they generate, on the basis of protein-protein interactions, the functional diversity and specificity required for the exquisitely precise working of cells and biological systems. Work of the Collaborative Research Center in the last two funding periods that led to a series of publications in the international top journals showed that protein complexes exhibit distinct levels of complexity: individual protein complexes with defined output, protein super-complexes that cooperate for a common task and finally protein networks, larger entities using broader signal integration to convey their highly specific output. These protein complexes operate as ¿nano-machineries¿ and comprise a number of as yet unknown protein constituents. Such nano-machineries are crucial for the control of gene expression, the sorting of proteins and rapid signal transduction processes across membranes.In the third funding period the research on "protein-encoded mechanisms of functional specificity" with emphasis on protein coupling and modification will be continued using the multidisciplinary approach that integrates analyses of different cellular systems and processes. The SFB is a consortium of groups and institutions of the Medical Faculty (basic research institutes and research groups of the University Hospital), the Faculty of Biology, and the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics that are closely connected in their research activities; these close connections together with strong support of young researchers are fundamental for the success of the SFB that represents a center piece of the Life Sciences at the University of Freiburg.