Scientists at the University of Strathclyde have secured £1.17 million to investigate how living cells control ammonium, a form of nitrogen essential to life and central to agriculture, biotechnology and human health.
The DrEAMTiME: Decoding Evolution of Ammonium Transporter Mechanisms project will examine how ammonium transporters – specialised proteins that move this form of nitrogen across cellular membranes – help cells manage ammonium, which can become harmful if not properly regulated.
Collaborative project
Funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the research is led by Dr Arnaud Javelle at Strathclyde. In collaboration with Dr Leighton Pritchard at Strathclyde and the University of Oxford, it will explore how these transporters maintain that balance and how their mechanisms have evolved over billions of years.
The research has the potential to contribute to a range of future applications, including more sustainable use of nitrogen in agriculture, the development of engineered microbes for biotechnology and environmental applications, and a deeper understanding of related transport proteins involved in human health and disease.
Dr Javelle said: “Ammonium transporters are ancient, widespread and biologically fundamental, but we still do not fully understand how they work. By examining how evolution has tuned these proteins over billions of years, we hope to uncover principles that can be applied to the design of biological systems for modern challenges.”
Significant benefits
Researchers will combine expertise from across microbiology, evolutionary biology and advanced imaging and analytical techniques to investigate how the transporters work at a molecular level.
The team aims to uncover the evolutionary principles that have shaped their function and use that knowledge to develop design rules that could enable transporter properties to be redesigned.
Dr Javelle added: "This project provides an exciting opportunity to address fundamental biological questions while building knowledge that could have significant benefits across biotechnology, agriculture and human health. More generally, the project asks how we can learn from billions of years of evolution to redesign biological systems for modern challenges."
The award will support a multidisciplinary team across Strathclyde and Oxford, including a 36-month postdoctoral research position at Strathclyde and two specialist 18-month postdoctoral positions at Oxford.