Ultracentrifuge and rotors for cellular subfractionation

我们正在申请资金购买一台超离心分离机和用于细胞分离的转子。新的超离心分离机将取代我们部门使用了25年的老旧机型。多年来，经验还原论一直是细胞生物学和生物化学的核心和富有成效的方法。在这种方法中，复杂的系统被分解成它们的组成部分，希望通过理解这些组成部分，可以对更复杂的系统有一些了解。将细胞分离成其组成部分的一种经典方法仍然是高速旋转样品。需要特殊的仪器，称为超离心机，在非常高的速度下（产生超过重力50万倍的力）做到这一点。虽然细胞是生命的基本单位，但它们本身非常复杂，由多个亚细胞区室组成。这些分区中的每一个都执行特定的和定义好的过程。为了研究在这些区室中发生的蛋白质和过程，有必要将它们与细胞的其他成分分开。它们可以根据它们的密度通过离心分离出来。本提案是为一个超离心机和必要的转子进行这些类型的细胞减法实验。虽然这里描述的实验涉及许多不同的生物体（从细菌到真菌再到植物）和感兴趣的亚细胞部分，但它们都通过共同的线索联系在一起，即它们利用或需要进行超离心。这里描述的研究进展取决于能否使用超离心机来进行这种细胞分离。

We are requesting funds to purchase an ultracentrifuge and rotors for cellular subfractionation. The new ultracentrifuge will replace a much older (~25 years) model that has been the work horse in our Department. Empirical reductionism has for many years been a central and productive approach to cell biology and biochemistry. In this method, complex systems are broken down into their components with the hope that by understanding the components some insight will be gained into the more complex system. One classic way of separating cells into their components remains the spinning of samples at high speed. Special instruments, called ultracentrifuges, are required to do this at very high speeds (generating forces in excess of 500 000 times that of gravity). While cells are the basic units of life they are themselves quite complicated and are defined by multiple subcellular compartments. Each of these compartments carries out specific and defined processes. In order to study the proteins and processes taking place in these compartments it is necessary to separate them from the other components of the cell. They can be separated from one another based on their densities by centrifugation. This proposal is for an ultracentrifuge and the necessary rotors to carry out these types of cellular subfractionation experiments. While the experiments described here involve a number of different organisms (ranging from bacteria to fungi to plants) and subcellular fractions of interest, they are all related by the common thread that they utilize or require ultracentrifugation to be carried out. The progress of the research described here hinges on access to an ultracentrifuge to carry out this cellular subfractionation.