| RefNo | EC/1981/17 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XXI, 17 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Green, Norman Michael: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1975 |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | Distinguished for important and highly original contributions to the study of protein-protein interaction and interactions between proteins and biologically active small molecules. He established that the interaction between trypsin and several protein inhibitors was competitive with substrate rather than non-competitive as had been previously suggested. He also devised methods generally applicable to the measurement of kinetics of protein-protein interactions of very low dissociation constants. He showed that the hydroxylation of collagen proline was completed after its incorporation into the protein and before the collagen left the endoplasmic reticulum. This was followed by a decade of intensive research on the binding of biotin to avidin and the introduction of highly sensitive spectrophotometric techniques for the study of biotinyl enzymes. In particular, he made the important discovery that each of the four subunits of avidin bound its biotin independently of the occupancy of the other sites buried within the molecule and, with the use of biotin analogues and bifunctional reagents, that the quaternary structure of the protein was not essential for the formation of the binding site. Green the developed an interest in combining electron microscopy with physico-chemical studies of proteins which revealed that the avidin subunits were arranged in a two-fold rather than a four-fold symmetry. An important outcome of this approach, in collaboration with R.C. Valentine's group, was the determination of the arrangements of fragments of immunoglobulins and the subunit structure of transcarboxylase. Recently, he has turned his attention to the controlled delipidation and proteolytic cleavage of the ATPase concerned with calcium transport in muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum. This work should lead to a better understanding of the mechanism of muscle contraction and of the transport of calcium in cells. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA4154 | Green; Norman Michael (1926 - 2019) | 1926 - 2019 |