Salvatore DiMauro | |
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Born | November 14, 1939 84) | (age
Other names | Billi |
Education | University of Padua |
Occupation(s) | Director, H. Houston Merritt Clinical Research Center |
Employer | Columbia University Medical Center |
Known for | Mitochondrial and metabolic disorders |
Title | Lucy G. Moses Professor of Neurology |
Spouse | Sheila Hayes |
Children | 2 |
Relatives | 1 sister, Franca |
Website |
Salvatore DiMauro, M.D., was born in Verona, Italy, November 14, 1939, graduated in medicine from the University of Padua in 1963 and completed his residency in neurology in 1966. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on genetic errors of energy metabolism and he defines disease entities using both biochemical and molecular approaches. As an "enzyme defect hunter", DiMauro has documented the molecular basis of many enzyme deficiencies, including carnitine palmitoyltransferase deficiency, the first error of fatty acid oxidation to be recognized in humans. With colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1970s, DiMauro studied the second patient ever with Luft's disease, the prototypical (though also the rarest) mitochondrial disease. [1] He is a Professor of Neurology at Columbia University, director of the H. Houston Merritt Clinical Research Center for Muscular Dystrophy [2] and Associate Chair of Related Diseases for Laboratory Research and Training. [3] He is a trustee on the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. [4] Prof. DiMauro has scores of publications. He also has several books to his credit. His last book is titled Mitochondrial Medicine and was published in 2006. [5]
In fructose bisphosphatase deficiency, there is not enough fructose bisphosphatase for gluconeogenesis to occur correctly. Glycolysis will still work, as it does not use this enzyme.
Leigh syndrome is an inherited neurometabolic disorder that affects the central nervous system. It is named after Archibald Denis Leigh, a British neuropsychiatrist who first described the condition in 1951. Normal levels of thiamine, thiamine monophosphate, and thiamine diphosphate are commonly found, but there is a reduced or absent level of thiamine triphosphate. This is thought to be caused by a blockage in the enzyme thiamine-diphosphate kinase, and therefore treatment in some patients would be to take thiamine triphosphate daily. While the majority of patients typically exhibit symptoms between the ages of 3 and 12 months, instances of adult onset have also been documented.
Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II deficiency, sometimes shortened to CPT-II or CPT2, is an autosomal recessively inherited genetic metabolic disorder characterized by an enzymatic defect that prevents long-chain fatty acids from being transported into the mitochondria for utilization as an energy source. The disorder presents in one of three clinical forms: lethal neonatal, severe infantile hepatocardiomuscular and myopathic.
Medical genetics is the branch of medicine that involves the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders. Medical genetics differs from human genetics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, while medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For example, research on the causes and inheritance of genetic disorders would be considered within both human genetics and medical genetics, while the diagnosis, management, and counselling people with genetic disorders would be considered part of medical genetics.
1,4-alpha-glucan-branching enzyme, also known as brancher enzyme or glycogen-branching enzyme is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the GBE1 gene.
MERRF syndrome is a mitochondrial disease. It is extremely rare, and has varying degrees of expressivity owing to heteroplasmy. MERRF syndrome affects different parts of the body, particularly the muscles and nervous system. The signs and symptoms of this disorder appear at an early age, generally childhood or adolescence. The causes of MERRF syndrome are difficult to determine, but because it is a mitochondrial disorder, it can be caused by the mutation of nuclear DNA or mitochondrial DNA. The classification of this disease varies from patient to patient, since many individuals do not fall into one specific disease category. The primary features displayed on a person with MERRF include myoclonus, seizures, cerebellar ataxia, myopathy, and ragged red fibers (RRF) on muscle biopsy, leading to the disease's name. Secondary features include dementia, optic atrophy, bilateral deafness, peripheral neuropathy, spasticity, or multiple lipomata. Mitochondrial disorders, including MERRFS, may present at any age.
Trifunctional enzyme subunit alpha, mitochondrial also known as hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase/3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase/enoyl-CoA hydratase, alpha subunit is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HADHA gene. Mutations in HADHA have been associated with trifunctional protein deficiency or long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency.
Pearson syndrome is a mitochondrial disease characterized by sideroblastic anemia and exocrine pancreas dysfunction. Other clinical features are failure to thrive, pancreatic fibrosis with insulin-dependent diabetes and exocrine pancreatic deficiency, muscle and neurologic impairment, and, frequently, early death. It is usually fatal in infancy. The few patients who survive into adulthood often develop symptoms of Kearns–Sayre syndrome. It is caused by a deletion in mitochondrial DNA. Pearson syndrome is very rare: fewer than a hundred cases have been reported in medical literature worldwide.
DNA polymerase subunit gamma is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the POLG gene. Mitochondrial DNA polymerase is heterotrimeric, consisting of a homodimer of accessory subunits plus a catalytic subunit. The protein encoded by this gene is the catalytic subunit of mitochondrial DNA polymerase. Defects in this gene are a cause of progressive external ophthalmoplegia with mitochondrial DNA deletions 1 (PEOA1), sensory ataxic neuropathy dysarthria and ophthalmoparesis (SANDO), Alpers-Huttenlocher syndrome (AHS), and mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalopathy syndrome (MNGIE).
NADH dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] iron-sulfur protein 4, mitochondrial (NDUFS4) also known as NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase 18 kDa subunit is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the NDUFS4 gene. This gene encodes a nuclear-encoded accessory subunit of the mitochondrial membrane respiratory chain NADH dehydrogenase. Complex I removes electrons from NADH and passes them to the electron acceptor ubiquinone. Mutations in this gene can cause mitochondrial complex I deficiencies such as Leigh syndrome.
Surfeit locus protein 1 (SURF1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SURF1 gene. The protein encoded by SURF1 is a component of the mitochondrial translation regulation assembly intermediate of cytochrome c oxidase complex, which is involved in the regulation of cytochrome c oxidase assembly. Defects in this gene are a cause of Leigh syndrome, a severe neurological disorder that is commonly associated with systemic cytochrome c oxidase deficiency, and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease 4K (CMT4K).
SCO2 cytochrome c oxidase assembly is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SCO2 gene. The encoded protein is one of the cytochrome c oxidase (COX)(Complex IV) assembly factors. Human COX is a multimeric protein complex that requires several assembly factors. Cytochrome c oxidase (COX) catalyzes the transfer of electrons from cytochrome c to molecular oxygen, which helps to maintain the proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane that is necessary for aerobic ATP production. The encoded protein is a metallochaperone that is involved in the biogenesis of cytochrome c oxidase subunit II. Mutations in this gene are associated with fatal infantile encephalocardiomyopathy and myopia 6.
NADH dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] flavoprotein 1, mitochondrial (NDUFV1) is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the NDUFV1 gene. The NDUFV1 gene encodes the 51-kD subunit of complex I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Defects in complex I are a common cause of mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondrial complex I deficiency is linked to myopathies, encephalomyopathies, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Leigh syndrome.
NADH dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] iron-sulfur protein 2, mitochondrial (NDUFS2) also known as NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase 49 kDa subunit is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the NDUFS2 gene. The protein encoded by this gene is a core subunit of the mitochondrial membrane respiratory chain NADH dehydrogenase. Mutations in this gene are associated with mitochondrial complex I deficiency.
NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase 75 kDa subunit, mitochondrial (NDUFS1) is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the NDUFS1 gene. The encoded protein, NDUFS1, is the largest subunit of complex I, located on the inner mitochondrial membrane, and is important for mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Mutations in this gene are associated with complex I deficiency.
NADH dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] flavoprotein 2, mitochondrial (NDUFV2) is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the NDUFV2 gene. The encoded protein, NDUFV2, is a subunit of complex I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which is located on the inner mitochondrial membrane and involved in oxidative phosphorylation. Mutations in this gene are implicated in Parkinson's disease, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and have been found in one case of early onset hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and encephalopathy.
NADH dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] iron-sulfur protein 6, mitochondrial is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the NDUFS6 gene.
Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase family member 9, mitochondrial is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ACAD9 gene. Mitochondrial Complex I Deficiency with varying clinical manifestations has been associated with mutations in ACAD9.
Mitochondrially encoded tRNA asparagine also known as MT-TN is a transfer RNA which in humans is encoded by the mitochondrial MT-TN gene.
Robert K. Naviaux is an American physician-scientist who specializes in mitochondrial medicine and complex chronic disorders. He discovered the cause of Alpers syndrome, and was part of the team that reported the first mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutation to cause genetic forms of autism. Naviaux proposed the cell danger response (CDR) and hyperpurinergia hypothesis for complex disorders in 2014 and directed the first FDA-approved clinical trial to study the safety and efficacy of the antipurinergic drug suramin as a new treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).