Yi-Qin Gao
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. California Institute of Technology
Contact
Information:
Department of Chemistry
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77842
Phone:
(979) 458-0592
Fax: (979) 845-4719
yiqin@chem.tamu.edu
Living cells are made up of molecular motors or machines, which carry out many of the functions essential for their existence, differentiation, and reproduction. The terms ?motors? or ?machines? are used to describe these molecules because they transduce one form of energy (say, chemical) to another (say, mechanical). Each protein machine possesses its specific function and often it forms an element of the chemical network of which the cell is composed. Molecular motors make use of chemical energy from a variety of sources, of which the most common is the differential binding energy of ATP and its hydrolysis products ADP,Pi. Proton and ion gradients, as well as redox potential differences, also serve as the energy source in certain cases.
We are interested in understanding the chemomechanical coupling mechanism of various protein motors and more complex biological systems, such as the chemical network involved in sarcomere and cell organells. The primary goal of these theoretical studies is to obtain molecular detailed mechanisms which not only explain the experimental observations and measurements but also provide understanding on the realization and regulation of the functions of these biological systems.
We are working on molecular motors with both constant and variational chemomechanical coupling ratios. The former includes kinesin and the latter includes myosin II and dynein. We are developing theories and multi-scale computational methods to deal with these complex protein systems and to obtain dynamic information in the time scale of biological interest. We are also trying to improve our understanding of experiments performed in the single molecule level, an invaluable source for the kinetics of the enzymatic reactions. Kinetic simulations are to be performed on more complex biological systems which constitutes many components, including the biological motors and their regulatory factors, for the understanding of the functions of these motor proteins in real biological systems.
"The binding change mechanism of F1-ATPase revisited" Gao, Y.Q., Yang, W.,Karplus, M., submitted.
"A model for the cooperative free energy transduction and kinetics of ATP hydrolysis by F1-ATPase" Gao, Y.Q., Yang, W., Marcus, R.A., Karplus, M., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 2003, 100, 11339-11344.
"The missing link between thermodynamics and structure in F1-ATPase" Yang, W., Gao, Y.Q., Cui, Q., Ma, J., Karplus, M., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 2003, 100, 874-879.
"Strange and unconventional isotope effects in ozone formation" Gao, Y.Q., Marcus, R.A., 2001, Science 293, 259-263.
"On the theory of the strange and unconventional isotopic effects in ozone formation" Gao, Y.Q., Marcus, R.A., J. Chem. Phys. 2002, 116, 137-154.
