The single polypeptide type I restriction enzymes - minimal multifunctional molecular motors

单一多肽I型限制酶——最小多功能分子马达

基本信息

批准号：
BB/D009715/1
负责人：
Mark Dominik Szczelkun
金额：
$ 25.76万
依托单位：
University of Bristol
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2006
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2006 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FD009715%2F1
关键词：
single polypeptide type restriction enzymes

项目摘要

To make life more straightforward, Mankind has developed machines to undertake complex tasks. But Nature got there first; life on Earth is reliant on the action of microscopic machines and motors made not from metal gears and cogs but from proteins. Miniaturised factories are working in your body right now! Take for example your genetic material, DNA. There are a great many 'molecular motor enzymes' whose task is to recognise a specific part of the DNA (a sequence made up of chemical bases called A, G, C and T) and then to convert chemical energy (in the form of a fuel compound called ATP) into mechanical events. For example, the proteins we study move along DNA many thousands of bases at a time, much like a train along a track. Once these motors reach a defined point in the DNA they stop and cut the track using an additional enzyme activity. Whilst this may seem a destructive event for the motor, it is vital to the health of the cell because these cuts are not made in the host genome but are targeted to invading viral DNA. A remarkable feature of the enzymes we wish to study is that all this complexity is contained within a single protein, a bit like a mobile phone which is also a camera, a games console and an MP3 player. How can all the multiple enzyme activities be contained in one protein unit and how are the activities coordinated so that the motor can move along DNA in a controlled fashion? This is what we intend to find out.

为了使生活更加简单，人类已经开发了执行复杂任务的机器。但是大自然首先到达那里。地球上的生命依赖于微观机器和电动机的作用，不是由金属齿轮和齿轮制成的，而是由蛋白质制成的。小型工厂现在正在您的体内工作！以您的遗传材料DNA为例。有很多“分子运动酶”的任务是识别DNA的特定部分（由称为A，G，C和T的化学碱基组成的序列），然后将化学能（以称为ATP的燃料化合物的形式转换为机械事件）。例如，我们研究的蛋白质一次沿着DNA移动数千个碱基，就像沿着轨道的火车一样。一旦这些电动机达到DNA中的定义点，他们就会停止并使用额外的酶活性切割轨道。尽管这对于电动机来说似乎是一个破坏性的事件，但它对细胞的健康至关重要，因为这些切割不是在宿主基因组中进行的，而是针对入侵病毒DNA的。我们希望研究的酶的一个了不起的特征是，所有这些复杂性都包含在单个蛋白质中，有点像手机，也是相机，游戏机和MP3播放器。如何将所有多种酶活性包含在一个蛋白质单元中，如何协调活动以使电动机以受控的方式沿DNA移动？这就是我们打算找出的。