This three-year award for U.S.-France cooperative research in structural biology involves Palmer Taylor of the University of California at San Diego and Pascale Marchot of the University of Aix Marseille II in Marseille, France. The objective of their research is to investigate the interaction of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and its neurotoxin, inhibitor fasciculin 2. They propose to obtain a crystal of the apoenzyme and analyze the kinetics of the enzyme-toxin interaction. The project takes advantage of complementary expertise of the U.S. and French investigators and provides access to synchrotron facilities in France. It will advance our understanding of the mode of interaction between enzymes and toxins.
