Martyn Gunn's Research Page
Apart from the known and the unknown, what else is there? (Harold Pinter)
My research interests are in polypeptide hormone action and metabolic regulation.
Growth Factors: mechanism of action and regulation of protein turnover
My aim is to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the coordination of cell growth and proliferation. Emphasis is on the molecular mechanisms regulating intracellular protein turnover -- the coordinated regulation of rates of protein synthesis and degradation by serum growth factors and diet -- and on the modulation of the autophagic vacuole and ubiquitin-mediated pathways of protein degradation.
Model systems exploit the differences in metabolic control between normal and transfected or transformed cells. Biochemical and molecular genetic approaches include measurement of metabolic rates and probing the transformed phenotype following transfection with plasmid vectors carrying specific oncogenes.
Studies in normal and transformed fibroblasts
- comparison of rates of protein turnover, growth and proliferation
- system responses to serum growth factors
- clonal variation in CHO cell mutants
- biochemical characterization of 3T3 cells transformed with SV40 T antigen, H+-ATPase, ras, src, and the regulatory subunits of the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase.
Studies in colonic epithelial cells
- regulation of metabolism by butyric acid, a dietary fiber fermentation product -- effects of butyrate on pathways of energy metabolism and pathways of protein metabolism
- regulation of growth and proliferation by butyric acid -- effects of butyrate on hormonal responses via the kinase cascade
- inhibition of colon cancer by butyric acid -- molecular mechanisms for the anti-proliferative effect in colon cells transfected with ras, and src.
Recent Publications
J. M. Gunn & M. R. Brancheau (1992) Protein turnover, growth and proliferation in CHO cells: variation within and between mutant classes for salvage pathway enzymes. Biochem. J. 282, 49-57.
J. M. Gunn & G. James (1992) Protein Turnover in 3T3 cells transformed with the oncogene c-H ras1. Biochem. J. 283, 427-433.
J. M. Gunn, R. Martinez-Zaguilan, S. Wald-Hopkins, D. Woolridge & R. J. Gillies (1994) NIH3T3 cells transfected with the Yeast H+-ATPase have altered rates of protein turnover. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 314, 268-275.
J. C. Laurenz, J. M. Gunn, C. A. Jolly & R. S. Chapkin (1996) Alteration of glycerolipid and sphingolipid-derived second messenger kinetics in ras transformed 3T3 cells. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1299, 146-154.
R. E. Gossett, F. Schroeder, J. M. Gunn, & A. B. Kier (1997) Expression of fatty acyl-CoA binding proteins in colon cells: response to butyrate and transformation. Lipids 32, 577-585.
It doesn't matter if you fall down as long as you pick up something from the floor while you get up (Efraim Racker)
Other places to go
http://http://www.tamu.edu/classes/bich/gunn/mgunn_research.html updated 06/07/01