SFB 1035:  Control of Protein Function by Conformational Switching

• Subject Area: Biology
• Term: from 2012 to 2024
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 201302640

Structural plasticity and conformational dynamics are hallmarks of proteins. Delineating the mechanisms of conformational switches in proteins, tightly controlled by various factors and processes, is key to unravel the principles that shape our protein universe. The CRC1035 combines researchers with complementary expertise in advanced biochemical and biophysical methods and employs interdisciplinary approaches to determine the underlying molecular mechanisms. Analysis of model systems has provided an understanding of basic principles of conformational switches. The progress achieved forms the basis for analysing the specific mechanisms of conformational switching in the regulation of protein function in medically relevant assemblies and systems linked to (patho)physiological conditions.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Current projects

• A02 - Positioning, association and maturation of subunits during 20S proteasome assembly in pro- and eukaryotes (Project Head Groll, Michael )
• A03 - Conformational regulation of the Hsp90 machinery (Project Heads Buchner, Johannes ;  Sattler, Michael )
• A05 - Mechanical control of protein conformations (Project Head Rief, Matthias )
• A06 - Conformational plasticity of small Hsps (Project Heads Buchner, Johannes ;  Haslbeck, Martin ;  Weinkauf, Sevil )
• A07 - Regulation of the DEAD-box RNA helicase Sub2 by TREX (Project Head Conti, Elena )
• A09 - Small molecule induced conformational control of protein function and activity (Project Heads Sieber, Stephan A. ;  Weinkauf, Sevil )
• A10 - Conformational switching induced by protein-ligand assembly (Project Head Antes, Iris )
• A11 - Single molecule fluorescence methods for investigating conformational dynamics and allosteric effects in chaperones (Project Head Lamb, Don C. )
• A12 - Mechanism of chaperonin-mediated protein folding and assembly (Project Heads Hartl, Franz-Ulrich ;  Hayer-Hartl, Manajit )
• A13 - Conformational switching during the production of branched polyubiquitin chains (Project Head Schulman, Brenda )
• A14 - Engineering conformational dynamics of a de novo designed two-domain metalloenzyme (Project Head Zeymer, Cathleen )
• B02 - Association-induced conformational switching in biomolecules studied by Molecular Dynamics simulations (Project Head Zacharias, Martin )
• B03 - Conformational control of multi-domain RNA binding proteins (Project Head Sattler, Michael )
• B05 - Structural dynamics of small GTPases under the influence of posttranslational modifications (Project Head Itzen, Aymelt )
• B06 - Exploiting cross-amyloid interfaces to design peptides as modulators of amyloid self-assembly (Project Head Kapurniotu, Aphrodite )
• B07 - Structural analysis of inhibitor-amyloid co-aggregates (Project Head Reif, Bernd )
• B11 - Structural Mechanisms and Cellular Regulation of Assembly-induced Protein Folding (Project Head Feige, Matthias )
• B13 - Conformational switching of Bcl2 proteins and their complexes in a native membrane environment (Project Head Hagn, Franz )
• B14 - Translational control of protein folding by elongation kinetics (Project Head Nedialkova, Danny )
• B15 - Conformational switches in viral regulatory proteins (Project Head Schütz, Anne )
• Z01 - Biophysical methods (Project Heads Buchner, Johannes ;  Sattler, Michael )
• Z02 - Central Tasks (Project Head Buchner, Johannes )

Completed projects

• A01 - The 26S proteasome: Dynamics of the regulatory particle (Project Heads Baumeister, Wolfgang ;  Sakata, Ph.D., Eri )
• A04 - Chaperones and TPR proteins in organellar protein import and chloroplast biogenesis (Project Heads Schwenkert, Serena ;  Soll, Jürgen )
• B01 - Coupled binding and folding reactions of intrinsically disordered proteins (Project Head Kiefhaber, Thomas )
• B04 - Regulation mechanisms and dynamic properties of mycobacterial protein kinase G (Project Head Dames, Sonja Alexandra )
• B08 - Alternative Splicing - switching and conformational diversity (Project Heads Haslbeck, Martin ;  Zimmer, Ralf )
• B09 - Design of alternative protein conformations (Project Head Lange, Oliver )
• B10 - Genetic code expansion tools to study and control conformational dynamics and protein assembly (Project Head Lang, Kathrin )
• B12 - Multi-scale molecular simulations and artificial design of long-range conformational switches (Project Head Kaila, Ville )

• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Participating University: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; Universität Hamburg
• Participating Institution: Helmholtz Zentrum München; Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt; Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie (MPIB)
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Johannes Buchner