With this award, the Chemistry of Life Processes Program is funding Professor Jon Fukuto of Sonoma State University to elucidate the chemical interactions of H2S with a variety of likely and possible biological targets. It is proposed by the Fukuto lab that an important fate of biologically generated H2S is the formation of protein persulfides (RSSH). From a chemical perspective, persulfides are expected to have unique properties that can alter thiol protein function in ways unknown with other thiol-modifed species. Thus, the generation of persulfides in proteins and subsequent effects on protein function may be an important aspect of H2S biology/signaling. Significantly, the ephemeral nature of persulfides may also be an important aspect of their physiological utility and, interestingly, would have precluded their discovery or recognition as a biologically relevant species.
Broader impacts include the exposure of undergraduate students to interdisciplinary research in Chemical Biology. Moreover, fundamental biochemical studies of H2S are expected to have impact on the broader scientific community. It appears that NO and CO, together with H2S, constitute an integrated and intimately intertwined signaling system of volatile "second messengers". That is, reported commonality in biological targets and possible chemical interactions indicates a chemical signaling "web". Thus, information on H2S-signaling mechanisms is expected to contribute to the understanding of this network of gaseous low molecular weight signaling species.
