Détails sur le projet
Description
Biological polymers are essential components of any living organism from bacteria to humans. Well knownexamples of polymers include polypeptides, DNA and RNA. Roles of these polymers are widely recognizedand the vast majority of life sciences research is dedicated to investigation of their properties and biologicalroles. Two polymers which are ubiquitously present in all organisms are inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) andpolyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). Biological roles of polyP and PHB have been recognized only recently. It wasdemonstrated that these polymers involved in multiple processes including regulation of ion transport, energymetabolism, blood coagulation and gene expression. Although it is recognized that cells are capable ofsynthesizing these polymers the specific enzymes responsible for this process has not been identified. Thecentral goal of current proposal is to identify which enzymes are involved in production and consumption ofpolyP and PHB in bacteria and mammalian mitochondria.To achieve our first goal we will perform genome wide screening of E.coli. This screening will lead toidentification of bacterial mutants deficient in polyP and PHB, so will tell us which genes are involved in theprocess of polyP and PHB synthesis. This will be followed by further characterization of the identified genesand their protein products using biochemical and functional approaches. At the later stages our studies will beexpanded to finding homologue enzymes in mammalian mitochondria.Identification of these enzymes will significantly advance our understanding of polyP and PHB metabolism andwill be of great importance to a broad field of life science. Furthermore, this will give researchers valuabletools to do more detailed studies of the biological roles of these polymers. Specifically it will make possible touse genetic approaches to manipulate levels of these polymers at the level of intact cells and to study how these manipulations change cell function.
Statut | Actif |
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Date de début/de fin réelle | 1/1/14 → … |
Financement
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada: 23 544,00 $ US
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Biochemistry
- Cell Biology