细菌小RNA调控的分子机制定量研究

项目名称： 细菌小RNA调控的分子机制定量研究

项目编号： No.11274320

项目类型： 面上项目

立项/批准年度： 2013

项目学科： 数理科学和化学

项目作者： 史华林

作者单位： 中国科学院理论物理研究所

项目金额： 82万元

中文摘要： 非编码RNA广泛存在于原核和真核生物中，它们的功能是目前生物学研究热点问题。本项目将引入统计物理学的概念和方法，实验和理论结合定量研究细菌小RNA基因调控的分子机制。通过构建小RNA及其靶基因的各种突变，研究：1）RNA的序列、结构和调控功能之间的关系；2）小RNA与靶基因mRNA互补配对的动力学过程对调控功能的影响；3）RNA分子伴侣蛋白Hfq在不同的小RNA调控机制中的作用。定量基因表达调控数据的测量，结合理论建模得到小RNA基因调控的统计物理模型，进而对基于RNA的基因调控的规律有更深的理解。在此基础上，利用小RNA构建独特的基因调控回路。理论和实验结合研究小RNA基因回路的动力学以及各种噪声的影响。

中文关键词： 基因调控；非编码RNA；转录后调控；转录终止子；定量分子生物学

英文摘要： Non-coding RNAs are widespread in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.It become a hot research field to study their biological functions in these recent years. By introducing concepts and methods of statistical physics, we will quantitatively study molecular mechanisms of bacterial small RNA gene regulation both experimentally and theoretically. By constructing a variety of mutants for a small RNA and its target gene, we will study: 1)the relationship between RNA sequence, structure and regulatory functions; 2) how does the kinetic process of the small RNA pairing with its target mRNA affect its regulatory functions; 3) the roles of RNA chaperone Hfq in different small RNA regulatory systems. From quantitative gene expression measurements and theoretical modeling, we will build a statistical physics model for the small RNA gene regulation, and thus get a deeper understanding of the laws of the RNA-based gene regulation. Based on these quantitative information, we will use small RNA as a component to build an unique gene regulatory circuit. We will study the dynamics and effects of noise in this small RNA gene circuit both experimentally and theoretically.

英文关键词： gene regulation；non-coding RNA；post-transcriptional control；transcriptional terminator；quantitative biology