FASEB Summer Conference on Helicase and NTP-Driven Nucleic Acid Motors: Structure

Federation Of Amer Soc For Exper Biology, Bethesda MD

Investigators

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is for partial funding of the 2007 FASEB Summer Conference on "Helicases and NTP-Driven Nucleic Acid Motors: Structure, Function, Mechanism and Roles in Human Diseases." The conference will be held from June 23 to June 28, 2007 at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, CA under the auspices of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB). There will be nine major scientific sessions; each session will include an average of four to five speakers, each presenting a 25-minute oral talk. There also will be two poster sessions, both of which will last two days. Helicases are molecular motor proteins that use the energy of NTP hydrolysis to translocate unidirectionally along nucleic acids, separating the complementary strands of the nucleic acid duplex. Helicase/translocase proteins also can destabilize the secondary structure of RNA, remove proteins bound to nucleic acid segments, and facilitate the movement of DNA and RNA chains through various pores, cell walls, and membranes. As a consequence of such activities, these enzymes serve as integral components of the cellular machineries responsible for all nucleic acid transactions, including DNA replication, repair, recombination, transcription, ribosome biogenesis, translation, RNA splicing, RNA editing, RNA transport, RNA degradation, bacterial conjugation, and viral packaging/unpackaging. The central nature of helicases and translocases to biomedical research has been underscored by the recent discovery that several inherited human diseases (e.g. Bloom syndrome, Werner syndrome, Cockayne syndrome and Xeroderma pigmentosum) are caused by defects in genes encoding specific helicases. Helicase defects are also associated with genomic instability and an increased cancer incidence. Despite the importance of this group of proteins, however, there is still much that we do not understand about helicase structure and mechanism; we know even less about the biological role of helicases in complex processes like oncogenesis and aging. The helicase/translocase field is progressing at an extremely rapid pace, with new insights into architecture, function, and the role of helicases in human disease emerging on a weekly basis. This is the third FASEB meeting on this subject (the meeting in 2005 was organized through EMBO) since discovery of the first helicase about 30 years ago. Demand has increased with each session, further highlighting the general interest of this research area to the scientific community at large. This proposal will highlight the background and goals of the 2007 FASEB meeting, with an eye to bring together structural biologists, enzymologists, biochemists, geneticists, and clinicians to share ideas and new information on these enzymes, crosstalk that is key to inform and facilitate research breakthroughs in the future. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]