This three-year award for U.S.-France cooperative research in genetics involves Christopher Francklyn of the University of Vermont and Dino Moras of the Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire at the French National Center for Scientific Research in Strasbourg, France. The objective of the research is to investigate the structures of histidyl-tRNA synthetases from prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. The U.S. investigator brings to this collaboration expertise in the molecular biology, biochemistry and crystallization of proteins. This is complemented by French expertise in crystallography. The project advances understanding of the catalytic and substrate recognition properties of these enzymes and their evolution during the transition from prokaryotic to eukaryotic organisms.
