CATHERINE F. CLARKE
Assistant Professor; BS and PhD, University of California, Los Angeles.
RESEARCH:
Coenzyme Q is a lipid component of cellular membranes that plays an
essential role in generating energy. My research takes advantage of a
class of yeast mutants which are auxotrophic for coenzyme Q. Unlike human
and animal cells, the yeast coenzyme Q mutants are still viable because of
their ability to grow by fermentation. We are characterizing the mutants in order to study the biosynthesis and regulation of coenzyme Q. My lab
is involved in isolating and elucidating the structures of the coenzyme
Q biosynthetic intermediates, and we use molecular genetic techniques to
isolate and characterize the genes encoding yeast and mammalian coenzyme Q biosynthetic enzymes.
We thus have the tools in hand to study both the regulation of coenzyme
Q production and its function as an anti-oxidant. We have shown that
the coenzyme Q mutant strains are sensitive to oxidative stress, and
are particularly susceptible to lipid peroxyl radicals, a class of
oxidative products that represents a major cause of damage to cellular membranes. Our studies should continue to shed light on the mechanisms by
which yeast and higher eukaryotic cells synthesize coenzyme Q and respond to oxidative damage.
Key Words:
Biochemistry: coenzyme Q biosynthesis and function in eukaryotic
cells; ubiquinone; saccharomyces cerevisiae; molecular genetics; interspecific complementation; anti-oxidant; lipid peroxyl radicals.
Last
Revision: 10/26/95 // mk
