Title:
Dissecting the Molecular Mechanics of Eukaryotic Translation Initiation
Speaker:
Jon Lorsch, Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of M
Subject:
Quantitative Mathematical Modeling of Gene Regulatory Networks
Area:
Medicine
Type of school:
university
School name:
ohio state university
Country:
United States
Course language:
English
Course media:
Video
Course duration:
Contributor:
pbp
Comments:
Author: Jon Lorsch, Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Title: Dissecting the Molecular Mechanics of Eukaryotic Translation Initiation
Streaming Video: Real Media
Our lab is trying to elucidate the detailed molecular mechanics underlying a complex biological process - the initiation of protein synthesis in eukaryotic organisms. This process requires at least 24 different protein factors, two ribosomal subunits, a special kind of transfer RNA (tRNA), a messenger RNA (mRNA) and both ATP and GTP. We would like to understand how all of these components work together to facilitate and coordinate the assembly of a ribosomal complex at the appropriate place on an mRNA in a form ready to begin synthesizing the encoded protein. Our approach has been to reconstitute this system in vitro using purified components and then use biochemical and biophysical techniques to measure the rate and equilibrium constants governing each step and interaction in the pathway. Because we have reconstituted yeast translation initiation, we can synergistically couple the awesome power of yeast genetics to detailed quantitative and molecular analyses possible only in vitro. By studying in our system mutant components that produce interesting phenotypes when expressed in living yeast cells, we are learning about what individual chemical elements within the components of the system do and are thus building up a picture of how the dynamic interactions and rearrangements among these components lower the appropriate energy barriers and stabilize the necessary states to allow this stunningly complex molecular machinery to function.
pbp