THE BIOLOGY OF HEME

     Heme is an ancient and ubiquitous molecule, which plays much more important role than just
a mere oxygen-binding co-factor in hemoglobin.  
Heme is vital for many crucial enzymes and mitochondrial electron transport chain but can be deadly when overabundant. We study how aging changes heme synthesis, trafficking, and degradation, with a special focus on vascular and hematopoietic cells. We want to better understand what heme does in the nucleus and if it influences the genomic stability. Porphyrin ring can stabilize G-quadruplex (G4) structures in DNA. We study if increased heme levels in the nucleus or decreased heme degradation can stabilize G4 in living cells. Heme synthesis starts with glycine and succinyl-CoA, which both are important cellular metabolites. We wish to know how free heme availability affects cellular metabolism and in turn influences the cellular homeostasis.