Faculty > Petrash

J. Mark Petrash, Ph.D.

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Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Professor, Genetics
(314) 362-3335

B.S. Zoology, University of Texas (1977); Ph.D. Biochemistry & Genetics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX (1982); Fellow, Molecular Biology, New York University (1981-1984)

Research Area: Cataract

Research Interests:

One major program in my laboratory concerns the structure and function of the aldo-keto reductase (AKR) enzyme family. Aldose reductase (AR), the first enzyme of the polyol pathway of glucose metabolism, plays an important role in the onset and progression of some complications of diabetes mellitus including blindness. We have shown that many catalytic features of AR are conserved across the AKR enzyme family. Ongoing studies seek to identify physiological roles for AKRs using genetically manipulated organisms as tools to dissect the functional complexity of this large enzyme family. Our fundamental interests in mechanisms of disease pathogenesis are also being pursued through gene chip microarray studies. We are investigating how accelerated polyol metabolism such as in diabetes mellitus affects gene expression profiles in target tissues of diabetes.

The biochemical basis for cataract is another major area of research interest in the Petrash lab. Cataract is one of the most common complications of aging and is often accelerated in diabetic patients or others chronically exposed to UV light. Cataract is a protein aggregation disease that results in loss of transparency of the ocular lens. Recent evidence suggests that this aggregation process may be prevented by alpha-crystallin, a major lens constituent related to the small heat shock protein family. We have shown that alpha crystallin binds plasma membranes with high capacity and that some alpha crystallin mutations associated with inherited cataract result in enhanced membrane binding. Transgenic animal models are being developed to probe mechanisms of cataract onset and progression.

Selected Publications:

  1. Cobb BA and Petrash JM. Alpha crystallin chaperone-like activity and membrane binding in ae-related cataracts. Biochemistry 2002 41:483-490.
  2. Cobb BA and Petrash JM. Structural and functional changes in the a A crystallin R116C mutant in hereditary cataracts. Biochemistry2000 39:15791-15798.
  3. Cobb BA and Petrash JM. Biochemical characterization of alpha-crystallin-plasma membrane binding. J Biol Chem2000 275:6664-6672.
  4. Srivastava S, Harter TM, Chandra M, et al. Kinetic studies of FR-1, a growth factor-inducible aldo-keto reductase. Biochemistry 1998 37:12909-12917.


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