Objective
During the last decade life sciences have witnessed a spectacular progress in structural biology with the structures of many important biomolecules coming available. However, up to now, only a few structures of membrane proteins have been determined, even although as many as 20 to 40% of the genes of all sequenced genomes code for such macromolecules.
Photosynthetic membrane proteins have been at the forefront of membrane protein science, because they generally bind chlorophyll and carotenoid cofactors. The electronic and vibrational properties of these cofactors tightly depend on the precise structure of the proteins to which they are bound and the interactions between them.
The presence of these cofactors thus allows the use of a wide range of non-invasive, state-of-the-art spectroscopic techniques to control and to study their structure and dynamics in relation to their function. This unique property explains why most of the breakthroughs in membrane protein science, from the first isolation of a highly pure and functionally active membrane protein, to the solving of the first structure of a membrane protein, have been achieved with proteins from the photosynthetic membrane.
The light-harvesting pigments used in purple bacterial photosynthesis are organised into two types of integral membrane pigment-protein complexes, called reaction centres and antenna complexes. Light absorbed by the antenna complexes in transferred to the reaction centres where it is trapped. The antenna complexes are all oligomers of dimers.
These dimers consist of apoproteins together with the pigments. The antenna oligomers are all circular structures and, so far, rings with 8, 9 and 16 dimers have been described. A major question is what controls ring size? The proposal sets out t o answer this by a detailed comparison of LH2 complexes that have different ring sizes.
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 microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology structural biology
- natural sciences biological sciences botany
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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-5
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.
Coordinator
SACLAY
France
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.