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.

为了让生活变得更加简单，人类开发了机器来承担复杂的任务。但大自然首先到达了那里。地球上的生命依赖于微型机器和电机的运转，这些机器和电机不是由金属齿轮和齿轮制成，而是由蛋白质制成。微型工厂现在正在你的身体里工作！以你的遗传物质 DNA 为例。有很多“分子运动酶”，其任务是识别 DNA 的特定部分（由称为 A、G、C 和 T 的化学碱基组成的序列），然后转换化学能（以称为 ATP 的燃料化合物）转化为机械事件。例如，我们研究的蛋白质一次沿着 DNA 移动数千个碱基，就像火车沿着轨道运行一样。一旦这些马达到达 DNA 中的指定点，它们就会停止并使用额外的酶活性来切断轨道。虽然这对电机来说似乎是一个破坏性事件，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，而是针对入侵的病毒 DNA 的。我们希望研究的酶的一个显着特征是，所有这些复杂性都包含在单个蛋白质中，有点像手机，同时也是相机、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，以及如何协调这些活性，以便马达能够以受控方式沿着 DNA 移动？这就是我们想要找出的。