Henriks ZENKEVICS

Professor Henriks ZENKEVICS

Institute of Biology, University of Latvia
Miera iela 3
Salaspils, LV 2169
Latvia

Phone: +371 7944988, +371 7945434
Fax: +371 9 345412
E-mail: zenkevics@email.lubi.edu.lv

Born: July 4, 1937, Riga, Latvia

Interests:

Sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus; A.güldenstädti) and salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, Salmo salar) gonadotropic hormone (GTH) , its dimeric structure and the functional role of individual subunits as the specific components of the dimeric molecule has been investigated since 1975. For the first time chromatographically purified sturgeon and salmon GTH was isolated and it was shown that the pituitary gland of the fishes produces molecular charge variants or isoforms of GTH with different properties. It was shown that the quaternary structure of fish GTH is an asymmetric heterodimer, built like a mammalian GTH-s, consisting of two chemically heterologic subunits which differ functionally and are mutually bound noncovalently.

Also, structure-functional significance of some side chain radicals and sugar moiety were investigated using selective chemical modifications of both dimeric GTH and individual subunits.

The chemical structure of carbohydrate chains of the fish GTH and its subunits has been investigated by means of HPLC. It was shown that the sugar moieties play an important role in both molecular conformation and biological function of the hormone, individual subunits and its isoforms.The content and structure-functional role of sialic acids were determined in the sturgeon GTH.

In summary, the basic aspects of molecular properties and biological function of the fish GTH were investigated. The data obtained turned out to be valuable for better understanding both the GTH molecular composition and specificity of the molecular mechanisms of gametogenesis in the fish.

Languages: Latvian, Russian, English.

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Last update 12.09.2007