Modern advances in time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to investigate the binding of DGAT1 peptides to lipid substrates

• Grant number: 13/20414-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: December 01, 2013
• End date: November 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biophysics - Molecular Biophysics
• Principal Investigator: Ana Paula Ulian de Araujo
• Grantee: Jose Luiz de Souza Lopes
• Supervisor: David M. Jameson
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 09/17698-5 - Structural investigation of the bovine enzyme diacylglyceroltransferase1 (DGAT1) and its interaction with lipid systems, BP.PD

Abstract

The diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1) is a microsomal enzyme responsible for the final step in the synthesis of triacylglycerides. Little is known about its three dimensional structure due to the high hydrophobicity and membrane bound state of this enzyme. Bioinformatics analyses indicate DGAT1 enzymatic function lies in a large luminal loop in which two peptides are thought to comprise the binding sites for the two types of substrates. This present research project aims at investigating the binding of these peptides to acyl-CoAs and diacylglycerols (substrates for the enzymatic reaction), using modern advances in time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. These studies will be conducted in collaboration with Prof. David Jameson from the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at University of Hawai'i at Manoa, with the intuit of determining the specificity and affinity of each predicted binding site of the enzyme to the substrates recruited in the triacylglycerol synthesis. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

LOPES, JOSE L. S.; ARAUJO, ANA P. U.; JAMESON, DAVID M.. Investigation of the conformational flexibility of DGAT1 peptides using tryptophan fluorescence. METHODS AND APPLICATIONS IN FLUORESCENCE, v. 3, n. 2, JUN 2015. (09/17698-5, 13/20414-4, 10/13036-5)