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SUMMARY:Conformational Spread: The Propagation of Allosteric States in Lar
 ge Multiprotein Complexes - Prof. Dennis Bray\, Emeritus Professor\, Depar
 tment of Physiology\, Development and Neuroscience\, University of Cambrid
 ge
DTSTART:20160226T140000Z
DTEND:20160226T150000Z
UID:TALK62658@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr. Hernandez-Ainsa
DESCRIPTION:The phenomenon of allostery is conventionally described for sm
 all symmetrical oligomeric proteins such as haemoglobin. However\, our wor
 k on the bacterial chemotaxis pathway leads us to the view that conformati
 onal changes can also propagate through extended lattices of protein molec
 ules. We have explored the statistical mechanics of idealized linear and t
 wo-dimensional arrays of allosteric proteins and shown that\, as in the an
 alogous Ising models\, arrays of closely packed units can show large-scale
  integrated behavior. Applied to the chemotaxis system\, conformational sp
 read can explain the switching characteristics of the flagellar motor and 
 the high amplification of signals at the chemotactic receptors. Our analys
 is applies to a variety of other systems such as muscle ryanodine receptor
 s\, actin filaments\, and offers a more realistic view of the transitions 
 of haemoglobin molecules. We suggest that conformational spread could prov
 ide the basis of a condensed state circuitry in a living cell\, able to in
 tegrate biochemical and biophysical events over hundreds of protein molecu
 les
LOCATION:Pippard Lecture Theater
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