In this award from the Chemistry of Life Processes Program in the Chemistry Division, Dr. B. Montgomery Pettitt, from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, seeks to understand, through computational approaches, the role of the solubility of the backbone and side chains in folding and recognition in peptides and proteins.
The mechanisms governing recognition between proteins and the transition of proteins from their unfolded state to their native state in cells still remain as elusive fundamental questions. Recent experiments studying the interactions between cellular osmolytes and proteins have challenged the prevailing paradigm of the protein folding mechanism. Interpretation of those experiments holds that the backbone solubility difference in osmolyte is a dominant driving force rather than just the sidechains. Recent theoretical efforts to date have not resolved the issue. Dr. Pettitt's goals are to computationally test hypotheses concerning the magnitude of the nonideal backbone solubility in comparison to side chain solvation as driving forces in protein folding. His group will use glycine oligomers as models for the protein backbone and alanine oligomers as small fast folders to understand side chain effects in quantitative comparison to backbone.
This research effort aims to resolve a critical issue concerning the chemical driving force for all protein folding. This goal has many far reaching societal benefits and is generally important for the fields of protein engineering and biotechnology. As such it will provide numerous interdisciplinary opportunities for the inclusion of women and underrepresented groups in the project. All participants will be encouraged to attend both national and local meetings of relevance. Dr. Pettitt is well positioned to recruit minority and female students and post-doctorates to participate in this project. His group works with the Rice/Houston Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate and the Houston-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, which includes the University of Houston-Downtown, Texas State University-San Marcos, and Texas Southern University, among others.
