TRR 11:  Structure and Function of Membrane Proteins

• Subject Area: Biology ; Medicine
• Term: from 2003 to 2008
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5485876

Projects in the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre aim at determining the structure and function of membrane proteins in across-border collaborations between scientists of the universities Zürich (CH) and Konstanz (D).Membrane proteins are of crucial importance for the life of a cell and have evolved to various forms. They transport nutrients, ions and metabolic products across the plasma membrane, control ion fluxes and regulate endo- and exocytosis. They are key elements in cell-cell recognition and signal transduction and for cellular responses to external cues, as well as for pathologies.Aims of projects are the identification and determination of the structure-function characteristics of individual proteins and of crucial functional domains, and, moreover, the elucidation of dynamic multi-protein assemblies, domains and motifs and their evolutionary conservation and diversification. Structural views are essential for comprehension of the molecular machineries that are vital to all cells.The protein and protein complexes considered here are: transport proteins such as ABC transporter and heterodimeric amino acid transporter, cation and metal ion binding proteins of neurons and non-neuronal cells, cell type specific receptors and ligands with functions in neurite growth and growth inhibition, microdomain/lipid raft proteins, multiprotein assemblies involved in cell-cell communication and signal transduction, and cell surface proteins relevant to neuronal functions and the development of brain pathogenesis such as prion and Alzheimer's disease. The analysis of 3-D-structure and function dependent conformational changes receives support from research on mechanisms that promote protein folding and refolding.The projects are clustered into sections according to their major thrust:-- structure and function of transport proteins and ion pumps;-- structural analysis and protein folding;-- membrane proteins involved in cellular interaction and transmembrane signalling.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• International Connection: Switzerland

Completed projects

• A01 - Structure and function of prokaryotic binding protein-dependent ABC transporters (Project Head Boos, Winfried )
• A06 - Structure and function of membrane proteins: YuaG (reggie-1) and GluP probably involved in cell division and morphology of Bacillus subtilis (Project Heads Boos, Winfried ;  Dahl, Michael )
• B01 - Crystallization and structural analysis of active membrane transporters from the cytoplsmic membrane (Project Heads Boos, Winfried ;  Diederichs, Kay ;  Welte, Wolfram )
• B03 - Insertion and folding of integral membrane proteins into lipid bilayers: Effects of membrane lipoproteins on membranes and on membrane protein folding (Project Head Kleinschmidt, Jörg H. )
• B05 - 3D-architecture of the multi-ligand receptor RAGE including its functional complexes, and structural analysis of TOXIC PROTEINS involved in neurodegenerative deseases (Project Head Kroneck, Peter M. H. )
• B07 - Crystallization and structural analyses of recognition modules from neuronal cell adhesion and receptor molecules (Project Heads Diederichs, Kay ;  Welte, Wolfram )
• B08 - Structure and Interaction of membrane proteins involved in neuronal development, signalling and response to cellular stress (Project Head Möller, Heiko )
• C02 - Exploring the function of Nogo and Prion (Project Heads Málaga-Trillo, Ph.D., Edward ;  Stürmer, Claudia )
• C04 - Microdomain calcium signalling in a secretory protozoan cell: Identification and funktional localization of membrane proteins in cortical calcium stores (Project Head Plattner, Helmut )
• C06 - Cellular functions and dynamics of Reggie proteins (Project Heads Langhorst, Matthias F. ;  Stürmer, Claudia )
• C08 - Structure elucidation, molecular degradation pathwas and immunological recognition properties of the ß-amyloid precursor protein APP (Project Head Przybylski, Ph.D., Michael )
• C09 - Regulation of CCR7 signalling and lipid raft association in dendritic cells through prostaglandin E2 (Project Heads Groettrup, Marcus ;  Legler, Ph.D., Daniel F. )
• C10 - Structure and function of the highly conserved TM1 region of prion protein (Project Head Bürkle, Alexander )
• C11 - Structural and functional relationships of conserved intramembrane glycoproteases from higher plants and bacteria (Project Head Adamska, Iwona )
• D01 - Microdomain calcium signalling in a secretory protozoan cell: Identification and functional localization of membrane proteins in calcium stores of Paramecium cells (Project Head Plattner, Helmut )
• D05 - Structural and Functional Relationship of Reggie/Flotillin-like Proteins and Glycoproteases in Pro- and Eukaryota (Project Heads Adamska, Iwona ;  Stürmer, Claudia )
• D06 - Localization and intracellular trafficking of the chemokine receptor CCR7 after ligand mediated signal transduction and chemotaxis (Project Heads Groettrup, Marcus ;  Legler, Ph.D., Daniel F. )
• N01 - Mechanism of Wnt and Planar Cell Polarity Signal Transduction by Frizzled Receptors through Trimeric G-proteins (Project Head Katanaev, Ph.D., Vladimir L. )
• N01 - Mechanism of Wnt and Planar Cell Polarity Signal Transduction by Frizzled Receptors through Trimeric G-proteins (Project Head Katanaev, Ph.D., Vladimir L. )
• Z - Zentrale Aufgaben (Project Heads Sonderegger, Peter ;  Stürmer, Claudia )

• Applicant Institution: Universität Konstanz
• Co-Applicant Institution: ETH Zürich; Universität Zürich
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Claudia Stürmer