Changing nuclear receptor binding from positively to negatively charged ligands

CHED 791

Vanessa E. Cox, coxve@whitman.edu, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA 99362 and Donald F Doyle, donald.doyle@chemistry.gatech.edu, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400.
The nuclear receptor protein, retinoic acid receptor α (RAR), uses five positively charged amino acids to bind to the negatively charged carboxylate on the ligand, all-trans retinoic acid. These positively charged amino acids were replaced with negatively charged amino acids using site-directed PCR to alter the DNA sequence that codes for the gene. PCR was used to create all possible single, double, triple, quadruple, and quintuple mutants. We synthesized an amine analog of all-trans retinoic acid to give a ligand with a positive charge. After synthesizing the positively charged ligand, the new compound will be tested for compatibility with the mutated nuclear receptor using yeast cells.
 

Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Biochemistry
2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster

Division of Chemical Education

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008