COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia recently created a model of proline dehydrogenase, an important cancer-preventing enzyme in the human body, and analyzed how it works. A paper detailing their results was published today in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Proline dehydrogenase is important because it plays a role in apoptosis, the process of cell death, by enabling the creation of superoxide, a highly reactive electron-rich oxygen species. Superoxide is involved in the destruction of damaged cells and therefore is important in preventing the development and spread of cancer. The protein proline dehydrogenase "opens up to allow oxygen to steal electrons" and create a superoxide, said Tommi A. White, an MU doctoral student in biochemistry.

White worked with John J. Tanner, professor of chemistry and biochemistry in MUs College of Arts and Science, and Navasona Krishnan, a doctoral student at the Unviersity of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Donald F. Becker, an associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to create the first model of proline dehydrogenase. Because the human form of this enzyme is difficult to work with, the team studied proline dehydrogenase from the bacteria Thermus thermophilus. They used bioinformatics and biochemical studies to show that this enzyme is functionally similar to the human version, so their results can be generalized to the human version, as well as the bacterial version.

Using X-ray crystallography and biochemical analysis, the team created a model of proline dehydrogenase that can tell scientists more about the molecules structure and functions.

"The three-dimensional model tells us a lot about the structure of the molecules and helps us understand how they work," Tanner said. "This protein is important in cancer prevention because it enables the creation of superoxide, which aid in cell death. Cells arent meant to live forever, and at
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Contact: Katherine Kostiuk
kostiukk@missouri.edu
573-882-3346
University of Missouri-Columbia
11-May-2007