Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD) Association Studies
Jason A. Ovanessian
Faculty Advisor: C. Craney

     Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD) catalyzes the first step in the Pentose Phosphate Pathway by oxidizing glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) to 6-phosphogluconolactone. Simultaneously, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP⁺) is reduced to NADPH. Through this reaction, G6PD maintains adequate levels of NADPH within cells. The NADPH in turn, is used for protection against oxidative damage, especially within erythrocytes, or red blood cells.
     By using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), large zone elution profiles for the molecular weight standards Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) and b-Amylase were obtained. Large zone elution profiles for G6PD were also obtained. Through integration in Graphical Analysis, centroid elution times were determined using the trapezoid method. Results obtained from previous experiments show that by lowering the enzyme concentration through serial dilution, the dissociation of the G6PD dimmer to a monomer is encouraged.  However, at an absorbance range of 280 nm, such a low concentration of G6PD (<1.2 x 10^-9 mol/L) makes it difficult to distinguish signal from background noise [1]. Current studies are aimed at determining which increased Potassium Chloride (KCI) concentrations will encourage the dimmer dissociation at higher enzyme concentrations. It is our goal to determine the monomer-dimer equilibrium and to calculate K_D.

Support provided by:  National Science Foundation-Research Experience for Undergraduates Fellowships