[5-11]Tardigrade proteins & desiccation tolerance

报告题目：Tardigrade proteins & desiccation tolerance

报 告 人：Gary J. Pielak（裴盖瑞），Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

主 持 人：许国强 教授

报告时间：2017年5月11日（周五）下午 14:00

报告地点：苏大独墅湖校区云轩楼1323会议室

Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

报告摘要：

Tardigrades, commonly known as water bears, are microorganisms that can survive extreme conditions: temperatures from -274 °C to 151 °C, pressures from 0 to 6,000 atmospheres, 10³ times more radiation than the average animal, 10 days in space, 30 years frozen, and at least 10 years of dehydration. However, little is known about the mechanisms tardigrades use to survive these harsh environments. The Cytoplasmic Abundant Heat Soluble (CAHS) class of proteins is overexpressed by tardigrades under dehydration stress and the CAHS genes are essential for surviving dehydration. CAHS proteins form temperature-dependent reversible gel networks at higher concentrations, even in Escherichia coli cell lysates. Circular dichroism spectropolarimetry and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy data indicate that the purified proteins are intrinsically disordered in dilute solution. Additional characterization shows that purified CAHS proteins prevent dehydration-induced enzyme inactivation and stabilize the folded state of globular proteins, making them potential excipients for stabilizing and increasing  the shelf life of biologic drugs and industrial enzymes.

报告人简介：

Gary J. Pielak （裴盖瑞）

Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

Joint faculty of Biochemistry and Biophysics

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Pielak received his PhD in chemistry from Washington State University and completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Oxford and University of British Colombia, Vancouver. He joined UNC in 1989 and is currently a Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemistry (an honor he received in 2015), the Vice Chair of Facilities in Chemistry and Glen H. Elder, Jr. Distinguished Term Professor of Research & Undergraduate Education.  He received NIH Directors Pioneer Award in 2011 and NC Tanner Awards --Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017.

His goal is to understand the chemistry of proteins as it occurs in living cells. This knowledge is fundamentally important and essential for ensuring that simple, inexpensive in vitro experiments can be used with confidence to diagnose and treat human disease. His lab has pioneered the study of both globular and disordered proteins under actual biologically relevant conditions both in vitro and in cells. He and his students do this by developing innovative techniques to measure protein stability and diffusion in the presence of huge amounts of solutes that interfere with standard measurement techniques.