Bacteria sense and respond to environmental stimuli using a two component regulatory system. These systems are comprised of a number of distinct elements, namely histidine kinases, response regulators and in the case of phosphorelays, histidine phosphotransfer proteins (HPts).  The system that we are currently investigating is Nitrogen Regulatory Protein C (NtrC), a positively acting bacterial transcription factor, makes up one unit of a two component regulatory system.  The second unit in the NtrC's two component regulatory system, a sensor histidine kinase phosphorylates the amino (N)-terminal domain of NtrC protein when changes in nitrogen concentration are detected.  This study consisted of site-specifically altering NtrC's sequence by the incorporation of an unnatural fluorinated amino acid to be used as a probe to investigate the structural rearrangements resulting from phosphorylation with varying levels of nitrogen using 19F NMR. 

Extended Abstract Status: Not Uploaded