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A proteomic approach to study the molecular processes of a novel putative zinc binding protein in erythropoiesis

Prieto Gónzalez-Albo, Isabel (2017) MOBN01 20162
Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
Popular Abstract
A proteomic approach to study the molecular processes of a novel putative zinc binding protein in erythropoiesis

We have around 6 liters of blood in our body: each of them contain around 6 billion red blood cells, which travel around the 96.000km of blood vessels of our body.
Blood contains many different types of cells, which play key roles for us. For example, Red Blood Cells (RBCs) are the ones in charge of transporting oxygen within the body. Due to the importance of these cells, we aim to get a better understanding of their production process investigating a protein with unknown function, which we hypothesized that it’s involved in this process of production of RBCs.

Red blood cells are generated from a primary cell called... (More)
A proteomic approach to study the molecular processes of a novel putative zinc binding protein in erythropoiesis

We have around 6 liters of blood in our body: each of them contain around 6 billion red blood cells, which travel around the 96.000km of blood vessels of our body.
Blood contains many different types of cells, which play key roles for us. For example, Red Blood Cells (RBCs) are the ones in charge of transporting oxygen within the body. Due to the importance of these cells, we aim to get a better understanding of their production process investigating a protein with unknown function, which we hypothesized that it’s involved in this process of production of RBCs.

Red blood cells are generated from a primary cell called Hematopoietic Stem cell in the bone marrow. This process of production of RBC, also called erythropoiesis, is tightly regulated and highly influenced by a hormone called erythropoietin (Epo). To fully understand erythropoiesis, it’s necessary to study proteins involved in this process with unknown function. Thus, we chose to study one of these proteins, which we hypothesize that has a role in in this process due to its conservation in evolution and abundance in the final stages of erythropoiesis.

We investigated the function of this protein studying the molecular processes where it could be involved. In the first place, this was done looking into the levels of the hormone Epo in blood serum of mice deficient of this protein. Moreover, the main part of this project was the study of proteins that would potentially bind to our protein, since they could give us an insight into its function due to the importance of protein interactions inside of cells.

Results and implications
In the first place, we observed a tendency of increased Epo levels in blood serum of adult mice deficient of the protein, as well as low RBC counts, which could suggest a mild anemia. However, due to the non-significant results, a repetition of this study with a higher sample size is necessary to draw a firm conclusion. In relation to the binding proteins study, we identified proteins related to cell life cycle, and protein interaction sequences where Epo is involved. These two experiments suggest a role of our chosen protein in erythropoiesis.

Further studies are necessary to reduce the number of protein candidates, and to validate them through immunological and proteomic approaches, in order to address the molecular processes of this protein and to confirm its relation to erythropoiesis. This goal would lead us to a better understanding of erythropoiesis, which would contribute to the treatment of blood diseases.


Master’s Degree Project Molecular Biology 45 credits 2017
Department of Biology, Lund University

Advisor: Johan Flygare. Co-advisor: Alexander Mattebo
Division of Molecular Medicine and Gene Therapy. Faculty of Medicine. Lund University. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Prieto Gónzalez-Albo, Isabel
supervisor
organization
course
MOBN01 20162
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
8925236
date added to LUP
2017-09-11 10:02:01
date last changed
2017-09-11 10:02:01
@misc{8925236,
  author       = {{Prieto Gónzalez-Albo, Isabel}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{A proteomic approach to study the molecular processes of a novel putative zinc binding protein in erythropoiesis}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}