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Sven Thoms (born 1970 in Geldern) is a German biochemist.
Thoms's research areas are peroxisomes, translational readthrough, dysferlin, [1] and rare diseases caused by defective cell organelles. Thoms and colleagues discovered a new isoform of lactate dehydrogenase that arises from translational readthrough. [2]
The genetic code is the set of rules used by living cells to translate information encoded within genetic material into proteins. Translation is accomplished by the ribosome, which links proteinogenic amino acids in an order specified by messenger RNA (mRNA), using transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules to carry amino acids and to read the mRNA three nucleotides at a time. The genetic code is highly similar among all organisms and can be expressed in a simple table with 64 entries.
In molecular biology, a stop codon is a codon that signals the termination of the translation process of the current protein. Most codons in messenger RNA correspond to the addition of an amino acid to a growing polypeptide chain, which may ultimately become a protein; stop codons signal the termination of this process by binding release factors, which cause the ribosomal subunits to disassociate, releasing the amino acid chain.
Pyruvic acid (IUPAC name: 2-oxopropanoic acid, also called acetoic acid) (CH3COCOOH) is the simplest of the alpha-keto acids, with a carboxylic acid and a ketone functional group. Pyruvate, the conjugate base, CH3COCOO−, is an intermediate in several metabolic pathways throughout the cell.
Tumor hypoxia is the situation where tumor cells have been deprived of oxygen. As a tumor grows, it rapidly outgrows its blood supply, leaving portions of the tumor with regions where the oxygen concentration is significantly lower than in healthy tissues. Hypoxic microenvironements in solid tumors are a result of available oxygen being consumed within 70 to 150 μm of tumour vasculature by rapidly proliferating tumor cells thus limiting the amount of oxygen available to diffuse further into the tumor tissue. In order to support continuous growth and proliferation in challenging hypoxic environments, cancer cells are found to alter their metabolism. Furthermore, hypoxia is known to change cell behavior and is associated with extracellular matrix remodeling and increased migratory and metastatic behavior.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) is a complex of three enzymes that converts pyruvate into acetyl-CoA by a process called pyruvate decarboxylation. Acetyl-CoA may then be used in the citric acid cycle to carry out cellular respiration, and this complex links the glycolysis metabolic pathway to the citric acid cycle. Pyruvate decarboxylation is also known as the "pyruvate dehydrogenase reaction" because it also involves the oxidation of pyruvate.
Malate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.37) (MDH) is an enzyme that reversibly catalyzes the oxidation of malate to oxaloacetate using the reduction of NAD+ to NADH. This reaction is part of many metabolic pathways, including the citric acid cycle. Other malate dehydrogenases, which have other EC numbers and catalyze other reactions oxidizing malate, have qualified names like malate dehydrogenase (NADP+).
Pyruvate dehydrogenase lipoamide kinase isozyme 1, mitochondrial is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PDK1 gene. It codes for an isozyme of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK).
Eukaryotic translation is the biological process by which messenger RNA is translated into proteins in eukaryotes. It consists of four phases: initiation, elongation, termination, and recapping.
Dysferlin also known as dystrophy-associated fer-1-like protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the DYSF gene. Dysferlin is linked with plasma membrane repair., stabilization of calcium signaling and the development of the T-tubule system of the muscle A defect in the DYSF gene, located on chromosome 2p12-14, results in several types of muscular dystrophy; including Miyoshi myopathy (MM), Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2B (LGMD2B) and Distal Myopathy (DM). A reduction or absence of dysferlin, termed dysferlinopathy, usually becomes apparent in the third or fourth decade of life and is characterised by weakness and wasting of various voluntary skeletal muscles. Pathogenic mutations leading to dysferlinopathy can occur throughout the DYSF gene.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency is a rare neurodegenerative disorder associated with abnormal mitochondrial metabolism. PDCD is a genetic disease resulting from mutations in one of the components of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC). The PDC is a multi-enzyme complex that plays a vital role as a key regulatory step in the central pathways of energy metabolism in the mitochondria. The disorder shows heterogeneous characteristics in both clinical presentation and biochemical abnormality.
The lactate racemase enzyme (Lar) interconverts the D- and L-enantiomers of lactic acid. It is classified under the isomerase, racemase, epimerase, and enzyme acting on hydroxyl acids and derivatives classes of enzymes. It is found in certain halophilic archaea, such as Haloarcula marismortui, and in a few species of bacteria, such as several Lactobacillus species including Lactobacillus sakei, Lactobacillus curvatus, and Lactobacillus plantarum, as well as in non-lactic acid bacteria such as Clostridium beijerinckii. The gene encoding lactate racemase in L. plantarum was identified as larA and shown to be associated with a widespread maturation system involving larB, larC1, larC2, and larE. The optimal pH for its activity is 5.8-6.2 in L. sakei.
Lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) is an enzyme which in humans is encoded by the LDHA gene. It is a monomer of Lactate dehydrogenase, which exists as a tetramer. The other main subunit is lactate dehydrogenase B (LDHB).
Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH or LD) is an enzyme found in nearly all living cells. LDH catalyzes the conversion of pyruvate to lactate and back, as it converts NAD+ to NADH and back. A dehydrogenase is an enzyme that transfers a hydride from one molecule to another.
Forkhead box protein K1 is a transcription factor of the forkhead box family that in humans is encoded by the FOXK1 gene.
Translational regulation refers to the control of the levels of protein synthesized from its mRNA. This regulation is vastly important to the cellular response to stressors, growth cues, and differentiation. In comparison to transcriptional regulation, it results in much more immediate cellular adjustment through direct regulation of protein concentration. The corresponding mechanisms are primarily targeted on the control of ribosome recruitment on the initiation codon, but can also involve modulation of peptide elongation, termination of protein synthesis, or ribosome biogenesis. While these general concepts are widely conserved, some of the finer details in this sort of regulation have been proven to differ between prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.
A viability assay is an assay that is created to determine the ability of organs, cells or tissues to maintain or recover a state of survival. Viability can be distinguished from the all-or-nothing states of life and death by the use of a quantifiable index that ranges between the integers of 0 and 1 or, if more easily understood, the range of 0% and 100%. Viability can be observed through the physical properties of cells, tissues, and organs. Some of these include mechanical activity, motility, such as with spermatozoa and granulocytes, the contraction of muscle tissue or cells, mitotic activity in cellular functions, and more. Viability assays provide a more precise basis for measurement of an organism's level of vitality.
The lactate shuttle hypothesis describes the movement of lactate intracellularly and intercellularly. The hypothesis is based on the observation that lactate is formed and utilized continuously in diverse cells under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Further, lactate produced at sites with high rates of glycolysis and glycogenolysis can be shuttled to adjacent or remote sites including heart or skeletal muscles where the lactate can be used as a gluconeogenic precursor or substrate for oxidation. The hypothesis was proposed by professor George Brooks of the University of California at Berkeley.
In Toxoplasma gondii the translational repression of lactate dehydrogenase 1 (LDH1) was discovered to be mediated through its 5′UTR. A small nucleotide regulatory RNA hairpin was shown to be essential for the repression. It is possible that this hairpin may act as the nucleation site for the binding of a trans-acting factor(s) that allow for the translational repression.
Lactate dehydrogenase B is a protein that in humans is encoded by the LDHB gene.
Mehdi Mollapour is a British-American Biochemist and Cancer Biologist. He is a Professor, Vice Chair for Translational Research and Director of Renal Cancer Biology Program for the Department of Urology, and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at SUNY Upstate Medical University.
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