Objective
Nucleobases and nucleosides play a key role in nucleic acid and nucleotide metabolism in all cells, act as signalling molecules, neuromodulators and serve as nitrogen source in plants and many micro-organisms. They are synthesised de novo or, when de novo synthesis pathways are lacking, salvaged from the environment (purine auxotroph parasites; specialised mammalian cell types). Transport of nucleobases and nucleosides across biological membranes is mediated by specific transport proteins. Nucleobase- and nucleoside transporters have been identified and characterised in a variety of pro- and eukaryotes. However, due to the limited amount of molecular data, it remained unknown how the secondary structure determines the substrate-specificity of the transporters.
Many antiviral and anticancer nucleoside drugs are substrates of nucleoside and some of the nucleobase transporters, such as 5-fluoro uracil, 5-fluoro uridine and their derivatives. Since the transport of nucleoside drugs is critical to their therapeutic effectiveness, understanding the molecular mechanism of the transport process could enable the design of more effective nucleoside drugs and those with better absorption profile. Currently, the rational design of these drugs is hindered by the absence of high-resolution structural data on the transporters. Revealing the structure-activity relationships of transporters could facilitate the discovery of novel drugs with affinity specific for particular transporters.
This project intends to investigate the uracil and uridine substrate specific nucleobase and nucleoside transporters of the model organism, A. nidulans, and subject them to mutational analysis using a complex molecular biological strategy to generate and characterise various functional mutant derivatives of these proteins, which will finally lead to a better understanding of the structure and specificity (and the relationship between these two) of the transporters molecules.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules nucleic acids
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics nucleotides
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2002-MOBILITY-11
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
IIF - Marie Curie actions-Incoming International Fellowships
Coordinator
SZEGED
Hungary
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.