Mechanism and structural dynamics of translation

理解和描述大分子(纳米)机器设计背后的动态特性是生物物理研究的新前沿。这项拟议中的研究侧重于细胞组件，这些组件是细胞机制的一部分，用于解码遗传信息并在称为翻译的过程中合成功能蛋白质。翻译是核糖体的一部分，核糖体是一个由蛋白质和RNA组成的大分子复合体，它的功能是分子装配线，对所有活细胞来说都是必不可少的。虽然核糖体能够独立完成所有的功能，但它需要一些额外的蛋白质和RNA来高效和极其准确地合成体内观察到的蛋白质。我们刚刚开始了解在分子水平上传递信息的高度动态通信网络的设计是如何涉及到翻译等分子过程的。因此，拟议的研究将针对这些通信网络，并提供能够对其进行详细分析的分子工具。使用高度纯化的重组细菌体外翻译系统将使我们能够使用多学科方法系统地研究分子通信过程，该方法结合了从经典生物化学和计算技术(如分子动力学模拟)到最先进的基于荧光的测量等技术。

Understanding and describing the dynamic properties underlying the design of macromolecular (nano)machines is a new frontier in biophysical research. The proposed research focuses on the cellular components that are part of the cell's machinery to decode genetic information and to synthesize functional proteins during a process called translation. Translation takes part at the ribosome, a large macromolecular complex, composed of proteins and RNAs, which functions as a molecular assembly line and that is essential to all living cells. Although the ribosome is capable of carrying out all its functions on its own, it requires a number of additional proteins and RNAs for the efficient and extremely accurate synthesis of proteins observed in vivo. We are just beginning to understand how the design of highly dynamic communication networks relaying information at the molecular scale is involved in molecular process such as translation. The proposed research will therefore target these communication networks and provide molecular tools enabling their detailed analysis. The use of a highly purified reconstituted bacterial in vitro translation system will allow us to systematically study molecular communication processes using a multidisciplinary approach combining techniques raging from classical biochemistry and computational techniques such as molecular dynamics simulations, to state-of-the-art fluorescence based measurements.