Stochastic model for the twisting elevator-like mechanism of transport of a glutamate transporter homologue

• Grant number: 22/04737-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2022
• End date: November 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - General Physics
• Principal Investigator: Adriano Mesquita Alencar
• Grantee: Yan Borges Barreto
• Supervisor: Dirk Jan Slotboom
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Groningen, Netherlands
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/16338-7 - Statistical mechanical modeling of the effects of mechanical stretching on intracellular Ca2+ concentration, BP.DR

Abstract

The aim of my PhD project is to study the dynamics of cotransport. Currently, the most accepted and used model to explain the cotransport mechanism is the rocker-switch model. However, not all cotransporters can be explained by this model, since it was discovered that some of them use a twisting elevator-like mechanism of transport. Thus, in the present project, we propose in collaboration with Dr. Slotboom a way to refine our stochastic model of the rocker-switch mechanism to include rotation and translation of the cotransporter. Our expectation is that the model that will result from this collaboration will be used to reproduce experimental data from Dr. Slotboom's laboratory and find answers to some open questions in the literature. (AU)