Yeast as a Model to Understand Mechanisms and Consequences of Protein Modifications by Metabolism Derived Toxic Products

Abstract

An inevitable consequence of metabolism in cells across all kingdoms of life is the non-enzymatic formation of toxic metabolites such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reducing sugars, whose reaction products are associated with several diseases such as clinical complications of diabetes, cataracts, cancer and age-related late-onset diseases like Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease, amongst others. Yeast has been used successfully to study the reaction of these toxic metabolites with proteins in vivo, which I will summarize with exemplified studies on 2 crucial reactions, protein carbonylation and protein glycation.

Key words

diabetes - yeast - oxidative stress - ROS - methylglyoxal

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