9808708 Fajer The long term goal of Dr. Fajer's research is to determine molecular events which transform chemical energy of ATP into mechanical energy of muscle. Although muscular action is limited to animals, it is likely that a similar mechanism underlies action of other biological motors involved in cellular motility, cytoplasmic transport, separation of chromosomes, and activities necessary for any survival of all biological organisms. As with any motor, biological or not, one can expect moving parts and changes in relative disposition of proteins involved. Therefore, the investigation of protein dynamics and their orientation is indispensable in the attempt to understand the mechanism of biological motors In this grant the PI proposes to combine the spectroscopic methods capable of measuring both dynamics and orientation of labeled proteins with the chemical approaches trapping the biochemical cycle of actomyosin in well defined states. Since the myosin head does not behave as a rigid body, the PI plans to develop new labeled sites in the regulatory domain of myosin complementing the behavior of the catalytic domain.
