Significance and novel roles of the multifunctional transglutaminase 2 protein in the biology and pathobiochemistry of human cells

Academic head of project management: Fésüs László

  • Title of project: A humán multifunkcionális transzglutamináz 2 fehérje sejtbiológiai, patobiokémiai jelentősége és újonnan felismerhető szerepei
  • Type of grant: OTKA-NK
  • Description: The functions of our body and organs depend on what our cells can do and cells are run by gene-encoded proteins. In our cells about 21000 genes code for proteins and the specific functions of only about half of these proteins are known. However, even the ones with known biochemical functions have additional unknown or so far not-revealed jobs which we have to find out for understanding how our cells and body work. One of the proteins with several functions is an enzyme called transglutaminase 2, TGM2 in short. It modifies other proteins in various ways and interacts with many of them in all parts of a cell and we do not know the significance of these phenomena. To learn what TGM2 does in cells first we will use computational approach based comparisons in big data bases with many other proteins for predicting new functional parts, then we will test the consequences of modifying these parts after removing and changing them through gene modifications both in test tubes and in cells. We will also create a biosensor variant of TGM2 which will indicate for us when this enzyme starts to work inside living cells. We intend to prove that TGM2 is need for regulating the energy mobilizing system of cells and plays a crucial role in differentiation of stem cells. Some of the cells we work with are obtained from healthy as well as celiac disease prone individuals and the exact role of TGM2 in making people prone to celiac disease can be found out. TGM2 is also suspected to making neurons die through aggregating and cross-linking other proteins in Alzheimer, Parkinson and other brain diseases and our experiments will help to understand and prevent or cure these pathologic conditions.
  • The duration of the project: January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2016
  • Actual total costs: 98.001.000 (HUF)
  • Type of research: Basic
Last update: 2021. 08. 16. 10:57