This Biological Facilities Center proposal requests funds for the purchase of ancillary protein sequencing equipment, peptide synthesis and purification equipment, and equipment for x-ray structure determination of native and engineered proteins. The equipment will be shared by the staff of the Institute of Molecular Biology, one of the leading centers for the study of macromolecular structure and function, and its subsidiary program in Cell Biology. The equipment will be used to identify and/or study proteins involved in the mechanism and control of DNA replication and transcription, the effect of changes in primary structure on stability and tertiary protein structure, the interaction of subunits within protein complexes and between membrane proteins and lipids, the export of proteins by eukaryotic cells, and the mechanism of signal transduction in bacterial chemotaxis. This instrumentation will facilitate the collaborative research that has resulted in important scientific contributions in areas such as the stability of proteins, protein-DNA interactions, DNA replication and DNA transcription.
