Proposal: 0847742 Date: December 25, 2008 PI: Claville Institution: Southern University
With the support of the Organic Dynamics Program in the Chemistry Division, Professor Michelle Claville of the Chemistry Department at Southern University in Baton Rouge LA, will afford new insights into the effect of ionizing irradiation on methionine (Met) and methionine-containing peptides (Met-peptides). More specifically, the overall goal of this project is to determine the reactivity of distonic radical cations that derive from modified Met and Met-peptides. The modifications chosen will afford the formation of distonic radical cations and distonic radical anions, depending on the substrate. The presence of the positive or negative charge determines the reactivity of the radical site, or promotes novel reactions that have gone unreported thus far. This project will discover how charges within a peptide framework affect the reactivity of a radical within the same framework, and provide a comparison for radicals that derive from the analogous uncharged systems. It will also show how neighboring amino acids affect, or respond to the reactive intermediates formed within the substrate. The study of each reaction in aerobic versus anaerobic conditions will afford insight into how different distonic radicals respond to the presence or absence of oxygen. Any subsequent formation of newly formed distonic peroxyl radicals will form new species that may have deleterious effect on the peptide substrate. Ultimately, by studying the proposed reactions in the suggested conditions, insight will be provided regarding the potential reactivity of distonic species that may form in peptides as a result of ionizing radiation in aerobic versus anaerobic conditions.
With the support of the Organic Dynamics Program in the Chemistry Division, Professor Claville will pursue a project where a number of different sectors (e.g. government, industry and scientific education) will benefit. Some government and industry groups within the United States of America (USA) currently advocate the use of gamma irradiation for the purpose of food purification, in accordance to the current practices of countries such as Belgium, France, The Netherlands, and India. The NSF CAREER award will also impact the research and teaching community at Southern University and A & M College, and the Chemistry departments at other campuses within the Southern University System (SUS), a system of primarily undergraduate institutions (PUI). Faculty members who participate in the educational component of the project will get the opportunity to collaborate in a structured setting for the purpose of positively impacting each represented campus. This effort will result in a network of ACS-approved Organic Chemistry programs throughout the SUS that will serve as a model for other comparable PUIs. Ultimately, both the research and educational components of the proposed CAREER award will not only impact students and faculty within the SUS, but will also impact other PUIs within the USA.
