> Researchers shed new light on human enzyme
Researchers shed new light on human enzyme
June 9, 2008
Researchers studying the little known role of a human enzyme are getting closer to understanding its activity – and its potential effect on the processes leading to diabetes and neurodegenerative disease.
SFU chemist David Vocadlo, together with students Matthew Macauley and David Shen, are among international researchers involved in the research, featured in the June 8 edition of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
The researchers are investigating an enzyme know as OGT. The enzyme acts to add single sugar units to proteins within the cells of the body.
“The basic biological roles of these sugar units remain somewhat mysterious - which is part of the allure - but they have been implicated in diabetes and neurodegenerative disease,” explains Vocadlo.
The research describes X-ray crystal studies that provide the first detailed atomic level images of a close relative of the human OGT and functional studies of a human enzyme.
“The insights gained suggest how this enzyme may identify to which proteins it should bind and to which it should add sugar units,” says Vocadlo.
Learning which parts of the enzyme play critically important roles for its functioning will enable additional experiments to cast light on the biological role of this sugar modification in cells, Vocadlo notes.
Vocadlo is a scholar of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and holds a Canada Research Chair in chemical glycobiology – the study of how carbohydrates affect critical processes in biological systems.
His research group investigates how certain sugars can serve to maintain health or disrupt the proper functioning of cells, contributing to the onset of diabetes and neurodegeneration.
SFU chemist David Vocadlo, together with students Matthew Macauley and David Shen, are among international researchers involved in the research, featured in the June 8 edition of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
The researchers are investigating an enzyme know as OGT. The enzyme acts to add single sugar units to proteins within the cells of the body.
“The basic biological roles of these sugar units remain somewhat mysterious - which is part of the allure - but they have been implicated in diabetes and neurodegenerative disease,” explains Vocadlo.
The research describes X-ray crystal studies that provide the first detailed atomic level images of a close relative of the human OGT and functional studies of a human enzyme.
“The insights gained suggest how this enzyme may identify to which proteins it should bind and to which it should add sugar units,” says Vocadlo.
Learning which parts of the enzyme play critically important roles for its functioning will enable additional experiments to cast light on the biological role of this sugar modification in cells, Vocadlo notes.
Vocadlo is a scholar of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and holds a Canada Research Chair in chemical glycobiology – the study of how carbohydrates affect critical processes in biological systems.
His research group investigates how certain sugars can serve to maintain health or disrupt the proper functioning of cells, contributing to the onset of diabetes and neurodegeneration.