Biology:PDPR

Short description: Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Generic protein structure example

Pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase regulatory subunit is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PDPR gene.

Structure

The complete cDNA of PDPR, which contains 2885 base pairs, has an open reading frame of 2634 nucleotides encoding a putative presequence of 31 amino acid residues and a mature protein of 847. Characteristics of native PDPR include ability to decrease the sensitivity of the catalytic subunit to Mg2+, and reversal of this inhibitory effect by the polyamine spermine. A BLAST search of protein databases revealed that PDPr is distantly related to the mitochondrial flavoprotein dimethylglycine dehydrogenase, which functions in choline degradation.

Function

The mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate, linking glycolysis to the tricarboxylic acid cycle and fatty acid (FA) synthesis. Knowledge of the mechanisms that regulate PDC activity is important, because PDC inactivation is crucial for glucose conservation when glucose is scarce, whereas adequate PDC activity is required to allow both ATP and FA production from glucose. The mechanisms that control mammalian PDC activity include its phosphorylation (inactivation) by a family of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinases (PDKs 1–4) and its dephosphorylation (activation, reactivation) by the pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatases (PDPs 1 and 2).

Clinical significance

As PDPR is involved in the regulation of the central metabolic pathway, its participation in disease pathophysiology is likely, but there has been no published research on this thus far.

Further reading

• "Recent advances in mechanisms regulating glucose oxidation at the level of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex by PDKs". American Journal of Physiology. Endocrinology and Metabolism 284 (5): E855-62. May 2003. doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00526.2002. PMID 12676647. 
• "Novel association strategy with copy number variation for identifying new risk Loci of human diseases". PLOS ONE 5 (8): e12185. August 2010. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012185. PMID 20808825. Bibcode: 2010PLoSO...512185C. 
• "Characterization of size-fractionated cDNA libraries generated by the in vitro recombination-assisted method". DNA Research 9 (2): 47–57. April 2002. doi:10.1093/dnares/9.2.47. PMID 12056414. 
• "Cloning, expression, and properties of the regulatory subunit of bovine pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase". The Journal of Biological Chemistry 272 (50): 31625–9. December 1997. doi:10.1074/jbc.272.50.31625. PMID 9395502.