SFB 498:  Protein-Cofactor Interactions in Biological Processes

• Subject Area: Biology ; Chemistry ; Medicine
• Term: from 2000 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5484113

Nature utilizes protein-cofactor interactions in order to optimize biological functions. The central topic of the collaborative research centre 498 is the investigation of the interaction of the protein with organic cofactors and metal ions. These interactions are investigated using an approach combining various techniques from molecular biology, biochemistry, structure analysis, spectroscopy and theory. The collaborative research centre consists of seventeen scientific projects grouped according to the research goals focussed on the biological processes of electron and excitation energy transfer, conformational changes and signal transduction, and enzymatic cleavage of molecular hydrogen and water oxidation.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• International Connection: USA

Completed projects

• A1 - Lichtinduzierter Ladungstransfer in Photoylasen und Reaktionszentren der bakteriellen Photosynthese (Project Heads Fromme, Petra ;  Schlodder, Eberhard ;  Witt, Horst Tobias )
• A02 - Light-induced charge transfer in photolyases and reaction centers of bacterial photosynthesis (Project Head Weber, Stefan )
• A03 - Functional cofactor states in photosystem I and similar photoreactive protein complexes (Project Heads Antonkin, Mikhail L. ;  Stehlik, Dietmar )
• A04 - Crystal structure analysis of photosystem II monomer and dimer (Project Heads Engel, Michael ;  Saenger, Wolfram )
• A05 - Modeling of enzymatic reactions and transfer processes in proteins (Project Head Knapp, Ernst-Walter )
• A06 - Energy and electron transfer in photosystems I and II (Project Head Schlodder, Eberhard )
• A07 - Theory of excitation-energy transfer and charge transfer in photosystems I and II (Project Head Renger, Thomas )
• A08 - Electron transfer mechanism and dynamics of cytochrome c6 and cytochrome f in the redox chains of photosynthetic bacteria (Project Heads Hildebrandt, Peter ;  Murgida, Daniel H. )
• B1 - Lichtinduzierte Strukturänderungen durch Chromophor-Protein-Kopplung in Phytochrom und Rhodopsin (Project Head Heyn, Maarten-Peter )
• B02 - Bilin Interaktion und Strukturanalyse von bakteriellen Phytochromen (Project Heads Krauß, Norbert ;  Lamparter, Tilman )
• B03 - Chromophore-protein interaction in the signaling state of rhodopsin (Project Heads Bartl, Franz ;  Hofmann, Klaus Peter )
• B4 - Struktur und Funktion eines biologischen Wasserstoffsensors mit NiFe-Kofaktor (Project Head Sträter, Norbert )
• B05 - Photoschaltbare Phosphotyrosinpeptide mit Hemithioindigo-Chromophor und andere sensorische Modellsysteme zur Untersuchung und Beeinflussung der Signaltransduktion (Project Head Rück-Braun, Karola )
• B06 - NMR-spectroscopic investigation of light-induced structural changes in protein-chromophore complexes (Project Head Schmieder, Peter )
• B07 - Light-induced reaction mechanism of phototropin (Project Heads Bittl, Robert ;  Weber, Stefan )
• B08 - Festkörper-NMR-Untersuchungen an Kofaktor-Proteinsystemen mit funktionellen Wasserstoffbrücken (Project Heads Buntkowsky, Gerd ;  Limbach, Hans-Heinrich )
• B09 - Light-induced molecular structure changes in sensory photoreceptors (Project Heads Hildebrandt, Peter ;  Mroginski, Maria Andrea )
• B10 - Expression and spectroscopic characterization of channelrhodopsins and enzymerhodopsins from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Project Head Hegemann, Peter )
• B11 - Analysis of light-induced vibrational structural changes of photoreceptors and antenna pigments (Project Head Heyne, Karsten )
• C01 - Bacterial [NiFe]-hydrogenases: key reactions of the biological activation of molecular hydrogen (Project Heads Friedrich, Bärbel ;  Höhne, Wolfgang ;  Krauß, Norbert )
• C2 - Elektronische Struktur und Funktion der metallischen Kofaktoren in (NiFe)-Hydrogenasen (Project Head Lubitz, Wolfgang )
• C3 - Kristallisation des wasseroxidierenden Photosystems II zur strukturellen und funktionellen Analyse des Systems (Project Heads Fromme, Petra ;  Witt, Horst Tobias )
• C4 - Struktur-Funktionsbeziehungen in der Wasser-Plastochinon-Oxidoreduktase (Project Heads Irrgang, Klaus-Dieter ;  Renger, Gernot )
• C05 - Functional paramagnetic intermediates in photosystem II (Project Head Bittl, Robert )
• C06 - Structural changes of the manganese complex of photosystem II followed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (Project Head Dau, Holger )
• C07 - Crystallization of the wateroxidizing enzyme and its structural/functional analysis (Project Heads Irrgang, Klaus-Dieter ;  Zouni, Athina )
• C08 - Spectroscopy on catalysis, activation, and assembly of nickeliron hydrogenases (Project Heads Dau, Holger ;  Haumann, Michael )
• C09 - Vibrational- and EPR spectroscopy on hydrogenases (Project Head Lendzian, Friedhelm )
• S - Gepulste EPR-Spektroskopie (Project Heads Bittl, Robert ;  Stehlik, Dietmar )
• V - Zentrales Verwaltungsprojekt (Project Heads Bittl, Robert ;  Stehlik, Dietmar )
• Z1 - Untersuchungen von Protein-Kofaktor-Wechselwirkungen mit der Festkörper- und Lösungs-NMR-Spektroskopie (Project Heads Oschkinat, Hartmut ;  Schmieder, Peter )

• Applicant Institution: Freie Universität Berlin
• Participating University: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin; Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Technische Universität Berlin
• Participating Institution: Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP); im Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.
• Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Robert Bittl; Professor Dr. Dietmar Stehlik, until 1/2006 (†)