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AndrewJowers
Manager,NewsBureau
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33
FORIMMEDIATE
RELEASE
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L A J OLL A A
, ug . l 9 -- T he Nationa' lInstitutes of HeaIthhas awar deda
h o u n d a t i o tne a m
$ 2 . 7 2m i l l i o n g r a n t t o a S c r i p p sC l i n i c a n d R e s e a r c F
s t u d y i n g th e l i nk b e tw ee na p r otein' s genetic code and its function, a
f u n d a m en tapl rob l emi n rn o d e r n
m olecularbio' logy.
S p e c i f i c a l l y , t h e r e s e a r c he f f o r t w i l l s t u d y h o wa p r o t e i n ' s l i n e a r
a m i n oa ci d seq u e n ce
di ctate s howthe pr otein folds up in thr eewith other pr oteins to per for mits
d i m e n s i o n a sp
l a cean d a sse mbles
biological function.
"l,'lemayalready knowa protein's genetic code, howthe aminoacids
a r e a r r a ng e don e afte r th e other in a single chain," said Dr . Ar thur
0 l s o n , p ri n ci pa l i nve sti ga to r and m em ber
of the m olecularbiology
d e p a r t me n t." B ut w e can n o t p redict howthat chain folds in thr eedimensionalspace - howwe get from the sequenceof aminoacids to
p r o t e i n fu n cti on ."
S i n c et h e u n d e r l y i n gp r i n c i p l e s g o v e r n i n gp r o t e i n f o l d i n g a p p l y t o
a l l p r o t e i ns, o n ce the rel ati onship betweenthe linear sequence,the
t h r e e - d i me n si on asha
l p ea n d the r esulting m acr om olecular
assem blyis
d i s c o v e r e d ,i t c a n b e a p p l i e d t o m a n yl i f e s c i e n c e s .
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P r o t e i n f o l d i n g , s a i d 0 l s o n , " i s t h e f u n d a m e n t aplr o b l e mi n m o l e c u l a r
b i o l o g y to d a y."
T h e rese a rcheffo rt, fu n dedfor five year s, will use nuclear m agneti c
r e s o n a ncesp e ctrosco p y,X -ra y cr ystallogr aphy,com putersim ulation and
c o m p u terg rap h i cste ch n i qu e s.
T h e p roj ect a d d resse ssi x r elated pr oblens,dealing with sm all
to
p e p t i d e u n i ts of a fe w ami n oacids to pr oteins that haveassem bled
f o r m , f or exa mpl e,a vi rus. Eachpr oject will be tackled by a differ ent
m oe
l c u la r b i o 'lo g ist.
D r . P e te r Wri gh t, mol ecularbio' logydepar tm entchair m an,will use
that
nuclear magneticresonancespectroscopyto study peptide sequences
f o l d u p i nto cha racte ri sti c secondar ystr uctur es.
D r . D a vi dC a sew i l l u se com putersim ulation to study the initial
f o l d i n g s of smal l p e p ti de s.
Dr. TimothyHavel will use a techniqueknownas distance geometryto
s t u d y w h e th e ri t i s p o ssi bl e to pr edict howone folded pr otein changesto
a n o t h e rw i tho u t fi rst compl etelyunfolding.
D r . Ia n Wi l so nw i l l use X- r ay cr ystallogr aphyto study the
i n t e r a cti o n o f p rote i ns an d peptideswith antibodies, the natur e of the
r e c o g ni ti o n , a n d h o wa p e p ti de ar r angesitself whenit binds to an
anti body.
(More)
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sensitivity in the poliovirus
Dr. JanesHoglewill studytemperature
- howthe substitutionof a single aminoacid in the virus raises its
andaffects its stability.
sensitivity to temperature
0lsonwill surveyexisting infonnationon protein-proteininterfaces,
and use computergraphictechniquesto look for patternsin the
relationship betweeninterface structure and function.
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