FASEB Summer Conference on Helicase and NTP-Driven Nucleic Acid Motors: Structure

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请为2007年FASEB夏季会议“解旋酶和ntp驱动的核酸发动机：结构、功能、机制和在人类疾病中的作用”提供部分资金。会议将于2007年6月23日至6月28日在美国实验生物学学会联合会（FASEB）的赞助下，在加利福尼亚州印第安维尔斯的凯悦冠军度假村和水疗中心举行。将有九场主要的科学会议；每节课平均有四到五位演讲者，每位演讲者做25分钟的口头演讲。还将有两次海报会议，都将持续两天。解旋酶是一种分子马达蛋白，它利用NTP水解的能量沿核酸单向易位，分离核酸双链的互补链。解旋酶/转位酶蛋白还可以破坏RNA的二级结构，去除与核酸片段结合的蛋白质，并促进DNA和RNA链通过各种孔、细胞壁和膜的运动。作为这些活动的结果，这些酶作为细胞机制的组成部分，负责所有核酸交易，包括DNA复制、修复、重组、转录、核糖体生物发生、翻译、RNA剪接、RNA编辑、RNA运输、RNA降解、细菌偶联和病毒包装/解包装。解旋酶和转位酶对生物医学研究的核心性质已被最近的发现所强调，即几种遗传性人类疾病（如Bloom综合征、Werner综合征、Cockayne综合征和色素性干皮病）是由编码特定解旋酶的基因缺陷引起的。解旋酶缺陷也与基因组不稳定性和癌症发病率增加有关。然而，尽管这组蛋白质很重要，但我们对解旋酶的结构和机制仍有很多不了解；我们对解旋酶在肿瘤发生和衰老等复杂过程中的生物学作用所知甚少。解旋酶/转位酶领域正在以极快的速度发展，每周都有关于解旋酶在人类疾病中的结构、功能和作用的新见解出现。自30年前首次发现解旋酶以来，这是FASEB关于这一主题的第三次会议（2005年的会议是通过EMBO组织的）。每届会议的需求都在增加，进一步突出了科学界对这一研究领域的普遍兴趣。该提案将突出2007年FASEB会议的背景和目标，旨在将结构生物学家、酶学家、生物化学家、遗传学家和临床医生聚集在一起，分享关于这些酶的想法和新信息，这是通知和促进未来研究突破的关键。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is for partial funding of the 2007 FASEB Summer Conference on "Helicases and NTP-Driven Nucleic Acid Motors: Structure, Function, Mechanism and Roles in Human Diseases." The conference will be held from June 23 to June 28, 2007 at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, CA under the auspices of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB). There will be nine major scientific sessions; each session will include an average of four to five speakers, each presenting a 25-minute oral talk. There also will be two poster sessions, both of which will last two days. Helicases are molecular motor proteins that use the energy of NTP hydrolysis to translocate unidirectionally along nucleic acids, separating the complementary strands of the nucleic acid duplex. Helicase/translocase proteins also can destabilize the secondary structure of RNA, remove proteins bound to nucleic acid segments, and facilitate the movement of DNA and RNA chains through various pores, cell walls, and membranes. As a consequence of such activities, these enzymes serve as integral components of the cellular machineries responsible for all nucleic acid transactions, including DNA replication, repair, recombination, transcription, ribosome biogenesis, translation, RNA splicing, RNA editing, RNA transport, RNA degradation, bacterial conjugation, and viral packaging/unpackaging. The central nature of helicases and translocases to biomedical research has been underscored by the recent discovery that several inherited human diseases (e.g. Bloom syndrome, Werner syndrome, Cockayne syndrome and Xeroderma pigmentosum) are caused by defects in genes encoding specific helicases. Helicase defects are also associated with genomic instability and an increased cancer incidence. Despite the importance of this group of proteins, however, there is still much that we do not understand about helicase structure and mechanism; we know even less about the biological role of helicases in complex processes like oncogenesis and aging. The helicase/translocase field is progressing at an extremely rapid pace, with new insights into architecture, function, and the role of helicases in human disease emerging on a weekly basis. This is the third FASEB meeting on this subject (the meeting in 2005 was organized through EMBO) since discovery of the first helicase about 30 years ago. Demand has increased with each session, further highlighting the general interest of this research area to the scientific community at large. This proposal will highlight the background and goals of the 2007 FASEB meeting, with an eye to bring together structural biologists, enzymologists, biochemists, geneticists, and clinicians to share ideas and new information on these enzymes, crosstalk that is key to inform and facilitate research breakthroughs in the future.