Educational Programs and Outreach
Lockport Township High School ESRP 2017
X-ray Crystallography of Hen Egg-White Lysozyme with and without Ligands
Authors:
- Students:
- Leila Bentaous
- Thomas Calderaro
- Mariah Dicksen
- Drew Doubleday
- Krystian Glowacz
- Sierra Goldstein
- Michelle Hajduk
- Victoria Hennessey
- Ryan Michet
- Max Paulson
- Roxanne Siuda
- Teachers:
- Karen Murphy
- William Kane
- Mentors:
- Erica Duguid (Argonne National Laboratory, Advanced Photon Source; IMCA-CAT, Hauptman Woodward Medical Research Institute, Sector 17)
Advanced Photon Source Sector 17: IMCA-CAT; Advanced Photon Source Sector 19: SBC-CAT
The structure of proteins can be affected by binding different ligands to them. Chicken egg white lysozyme is an important protein in protecting the egg from bacterial infections. N-Acetylmuramic acid (NAM) and N-Acetyl-D-glucosamine (NAG) are known amino sugars they are commonly found in bacterial cell walls. They are typically arranged in a regular, alternating pattern. NAM and NAG are present in both gram-positive and gram-negative cell walls, but are much more prominent in gram-positive cell walls. This research solved for the structure of chicken egg white lysozyme with and without NAM or NAG sugars.