In this award from the Chemistry of Life Processes in the Chemistry Division, Dr. Judith Burstyn, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will study how sensory protein function is regulated allosterically by binding of small molecules to heme cofactors. Heme-containing modular transcription factors regulate energy metabolism, circadian rhythm and developmental timing, which are fundamental homeostatic processes in living organisms. Dr. Burstyn will investigate the heme-dependent gas-responsive bacterial transcription factors, CO-sensing CooA, CO-sensing RcoM and NO-sensing DNR, to elucidate the mechanism by which these proteins respond to CO and NO. The project will advance understanding of allosteric regulation in these modular transcription factors, where effector-binding and DNA binding domains are coupled in ways that are poorly understood.
The broader impacts of this project address the recruitment and retention of students who are underrepresented in science. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows associated with this project will be trained as mentors, and will supervise the research of undergraduate students who are selected from among underrepresented groups. The research carried out by these undergraduates will contribute toward the scientific objectives of this project. The research team will also present an outreach workshop on the biochemistry of nutrition, through existing outreach mechanisms in the University's Department of Chemistry.
