Functional characterization of zinc finger proteins

锌指蛋白参与多种生物学过程，如复制、转录调控、RNA加工和翻译控制。总而言之，这些过程代表了控制细胞内基因表达的主要机制。在执行这些功能时，锌指与DNA、RNA和蛋白质相互作用。我们有兴趣了解如何在锌指模体中调节与这种结构不同的分子之间的相互作用。 我们使用各种实验方法对锌指蛋白进行研究。定点突变是用来确定蛋白质上的氨基酸和核酸上的核苷酸，这些氨基酸参与形成特定的分子复合体。我们还使用核酸的定向进化来鉴定和表征锌指蛋白的核酸结合特性的新方面。我们开始使用X射线结晶学来获得这些分子络合物的原子分辨率的详细图片。 我们的研究结果促进了我们对这类重要细胞蛋白功能的了解和理解。

Zinc finger proteins are involved in such diverse biological processes as replication, transcriptional regulation, RNA processing, and translational control. Together, these processes represent the main mechanisms for controlling the expression of genes within cells. In carrying out these functions, zinc fingers interact with DNA, RNA and proteins. We are interested in understanding how interactions with such structurally diverse molecules can be accommodated within the zinc finger motif. We use a variety of experimental approaches to carry out our research on zinc finger proteins. Site-directed mutagenesis is used to identify amino acids on the proteins, and nucleotides on the nucleic acids, that are involved in forming specific molecular complexes. We also use directed evolution of nucleic acids to identify and characterize novel aspects of the nucleic acid binding properties of zinc finger proteins. We are beginning to use x-ray crystallography to obtain detailed pictures of these molecular complexes with atomic resolution. The results of our research advance our knowledge and understanding of the function of this important class of cellular proteins.