Ernest M. Wright

Last updated
Ernest Marshall Wright
Born1940
Alma mater University of London, University of Sheffield
Known forcharacterization of glucose and sodium co-transporters in cell membranes
AwardsFellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Biophysical Society, Member of the National Academy of Sciences
Scientific career
Fields Physiology
Institutions University of California, Los Angeles
Doctoral advisor David Smyth FRS
Other academic advisorsArthur K. Solomon

Ernest Marshall Wright FRS (born 1940) is an Irish-born American physiologist. [1] He is primarily known for his work on the mechanisms of glucose-sodium co-transporters in intestinal and other tissues in humans and animals. [2]

Contents

Biography

Ernest M. Wright was born in 1940 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He received his bachelors degree in physiology and chemistry at the University of London in 1961, and his Ph.D. in physiology in 1964 after studies in the laboratory of David Smyth FRS at the University of Sheffield. [3] He became a member of the faculty at Sheffield, and two years later received a Fellowship at Harvard where he studied with Jared Diamond and Stanley Schultz in the Biophysics Laboratory headed by Arthur K. Solomon. In 1978 he was awarded a D.Sc. in Physiology from the University of London. [2]

Wright joined faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1967. While on the faculty of UCLA College of Medicine he distinguished himself as a leading researcher in glucose transporters in a wide variety of tissues. His work is the foundation of research leading to medical treatments for diabetes and obesity. Wright received the Senator Jacob K. Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health from 1985 to 1992, and was named the Walter Bradford Cannon Distinguished Lecturer by the American Physiological Society in 1989. He was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2005 and a Fellow of the Biophysical Society that same year. [3]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

Kidney Vertebrate organ that filters blood and produces urine

The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about 12 centimetres in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood exits into the paired renal veins. Each kidney is attached to a ureter, a tube that carries excreted urine to the bladder. The word “renal” is an adjective meaning “relating to the kidneys”, and its roots are French or late Latin. Whereas according to some opinions, "renal" should be replaced with "kidney" in scientific writings such as "kidney artery", other experts have advocated preserving the use of renal as appropriate including in "renal artery".

In cellular biology, active transport is the movement of molecules across a cell membrane from a region of lower concentration to a region of higher concentration—against the concentration gradient. Active transport requires cellular energy to achieve this movement. There are two types of active transport: primary active transport that uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and secondary active transport that uses an electrochemical gradient.

Renal physiology Study of the physiology of the kidney

Renal physiology is the study of the physiology of the kidney. This encompasses all functions of the kidney, including maintenance of acid-base balance; regulation of fluid balance; regulation of sodium, potassium, and other electrolytes; clearance of toxins; absorption of glucose, amino acids, and other small molecules; regulation of blood pressure; production of various hormones, such as erythropoietin; and activation of vitamin D.

Cotransporter

Cotransporters are a subcategory of membrane transport proteins (transporters) that couple the favorable movement of one molecule with its concentration gradient and unfavorable movement of another molecule against its concentration gradient. They enable cotransport and include antiporters and symporters. In general, cotransporters consist of two out of the three classes of integral membrane proteins known as transporters that move molecules and ions across biomembranes. Uniporters are also transporters but move only one type of molecule down its concentration gradient and are not classified as cotransporters.

Glucose transporter

Glucose transporters are a wide group of membrane proteins that facilitate the transport of glucose across the plasma membrane, a process known as facilitated diffusion. Because glucose is a vital source of energy for all life, these transporters are present in all phyla. The GLUT or SLC2A family are a protein family that is found in most mammalian cells. 14 GLUTS are encoded by human genome. GLUT is a type of uniporter transporter protein.

Glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT-4), also known as solute carrier family 2, facilitated glucose transporter member 4, is a protein encoded, in humans, by the SLC2A4 gene. GLUT4 is the insulin-regulated glucose transporter found primarily in adipose tissues and striated muscle. The first evidence for this distinct glucose transport protein was provided by David James in 1988. The gene that encodes GLUT4 was cloned and mapped in 1989.

Sodium-dependent glucose cotransporters are a family of glucose transporter found in the intestinal mucosa (enterocytes) of the small intestine (SGLT1) and the proximal tubule of the nephron. They contribute to renal glucose reabsorption. In the kidneys, 100% of the filtered glucose in the glomerulus has to be reabsorbed along the nephron. If the plasma glucose concentration is too high (hyperglycemia), glucose passes into the urine (glucosuria) because SGLT are saturated with the filtered glucose.

The sodium/phosphate cotransporter is a member of the phosphate:Na+ symporter (PNaS) family within the TOG Superfamily of transport proteins as specified in the Transporter Classification Database (TCDB).

Sodium/glucose cotransporter 1

Sodium/glucose cotransporter 1 (SGLT1) also known as solute carrier family 5 member 1 is a protein in humans that is encoded by the SLC5A1 gene which encodes the production of the SGLT1 protein to line the absorptive cells in the small intestine and the epithelial cells of the kidney tubules of the nephron for the purpose of glucose uptake into cells. Through the use of the sodium glucose cotransporter 1 protein, cells are able to obtain glucose which is further utilized to make and store energy for the cell.

Sodium/glucose cotransporter 2

The sodium/glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC5A2 gene.

SLC22A8

Solute carrier family 22 member 8, or organic anion transporter 3 (OAT3), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC22A8 gene.

Sodium-dependent multivitamin transporter

Sodium-dependent multivitamin transporter is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC5A6 gene.

Walter F. Boron is an American scientist and the 72nd president of the American Physiological Society. He is currently secretary-general of the International Union of Physiological Sciences. Additionally, Boron is co-editor, along with Emile L. Boulpaep, of the textbook Medical Physiology and former editor-in-chief of two leading physiology journals, Physiological Reviews and Physiology.

Robert K. Crane

Robert Kellogg Crane was an American biochemist best known for his discovery of sodium-glucose cotransport.

SLC5A4

The low affinity sodium-glucose cotransporter also known as the sodium/glucose cotransporter 3 (SGLT3) or solute carrier family 5 member 4 (SLC5A4) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC5A4 gene. It functions as a sugar sensor.

Sodium-solute symporter

Members of the Solute:Sodium Symporter (SSS) Family (TC# 2.A.21) catalyze solute:Na+ symport. The SSS family is within the APC Superfamily. The solutes transported may be sugars, amino acids, organo cations such as choline, nucleosides, inositols, vitamins, urea or anions, depending on the system. Members of the SSS family have been identified in bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. Almost all functionally well-characterized members normally catalyze solute uptake via Na+ symport.

SGK1

Serine/threonine-protein kinase Sgk1 also known as serum and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the SGK1 gene.

Gliflozins are a class of drugs in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D). They act by inhibiting sodium/glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2), and are therefore also called SGLT-2 inhibitors. The efficacy of the drug is dependent on renal excretion and prevents glucose from going into blood circulation by promoting glucosuria. The mechanism of action is insulin independent.

The anion exchanger family is a member of the large APC superfamily of secondary carriers. Members of the AE family are generally responsible for the transport of anions across cellular barriers, although their functions may vary. All of them exchange bicarbonate. Characterized protein members of the AE family are found in plants, animals, insects and yeast. Uncharacterized AE homologues may be present in bacteria. Animal AE proteins consist of homodimeric complexes of integral membrane proteins that vary in size from about 900 amino acyl residues to about 1250 residues. Their N-terminal hydrophilic domains may interact with cytoskeletal proteins and therefore play a cell structural role. Some of the currently characterized members of the AE family can be found in the Transporter Classification Database.

Stephen Henry Wright is an American physiologist. He is primarily known for his work on the mechanisms of organic solute transport in kidney tubules, but he is also known for work to describe transport of organic solutes across epithelial membranes by marine invertebrates.

References

  1. Ancestry.com. U.S., Index to Public Records, 1994-2019 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2020
  2. 1 2 "Ernest M. Wright". University of California, Los Angeles. Retrieved 20 Dec 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. 1 2 "Ernest Wright, Ph.D., D.Sc". UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Retrieved 20 December 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)