About
Head: Prof. Volker Zickermann
Proton pumping NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) is a very large membrane protein complex with a key function for efficient energy production of the cell. The minimal form of complex I found in bacteria comprises 14 conserved subunits. The larger and more complicated enzyme of the mitochondrial respiratory chain harbors more than 40 subunits with a total mass of almost 1 MDa.
Complex I utilizes the redox energy released in the electron transfer reaction from NADH to ubiquinone to pump protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane or the cell membrane of bacteria. Redox linked proton transloaction by complex I contributes significantly to the electrochemical proton gradient that ultimately drives ATP synthesis in oxidative phosphorylation. A variety of neuromuscular and neurodegenerative human diseases has been linked with complex I dysfunction. However, the molecular details of energy conversion by complex I are still poorly understood. We use the aerobic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica as a yeast genetic model system to study eukaryotic complex I. Protein purification by His-tag affinity purification and genetic manipulation of nuclear encoded subunits is straightforward. We have accomplished the first X-ray crystallographic analysis of mitochondrial complex I. The structure provided exciting insight into the molecular basis of redox-driven proton pumping. Our work is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (ZI 552/3-1, ZI 552 4-1 and EXC 115);and our goal is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of complex I, a giant molecular machine.
Members
Lab Members
Prof. Volker Zickermann
Volker was born in Hamburg, Germany. He studied biochemistry at the University of Hannover and obtained his diploma degree in 1992. He subsequently worked on cytochrome oxidase in the laboratory of Bernd Ludwig in Frankfurt and obtained his PhD in 1996. With a DFG grant he went for two years as a postdoctoral fellow to the group of Mårten Wikström at the University of Helsinki where he worked with Moshe Finel on respiratory complex I from bacteria. He returned to Frankfurt to the laboratory of Ulrich Brandt and started structural work on mitochondrial complex I. He completed his Habilitation (venia legendi in biochemistry) in 2010. In 2013 he joined the Institute of Biochemistry II at the Medical Faculty of Goethe University as an independent group leader and was appointed apl Professor in 2018. His laboratory works on structure and function of mitochondrial complex I and related proteins. Volker is section editor of BBA Bioenergetics.
Dr. Heike Angerer
Heike was trained and employed by Sanofi Deutschland GmbH to assist solid phase peptide and oligo nucleotide synthesis from 1997-2000. She studied biochemistry at the Goethe University of Frankfurt and gained her diploma in 2005. She worked on bacterial complex IV in the laboratory of Hartmut Michel at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics and obtained her Ph.D. in 2009. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the group of Ulrich Brandt and started work on mitochondrial complex I of Yarrowia lipolytica at the Medical School of Frankfurt University. She started 2012 in the Structural Bioenergetics Group of Volker Zickermann with the focus on accessory subunits of mitochondrial complex I and NFS1 protein of Fe-S cluster biogenesis.
Etienne Galemou Yoga
Etienne studied life sciences with focus on biochemistry at the University of Potsdam, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree. He obtained his master’s degree in Biochemistry at the free University of Berlin. For his master’s thesis, Etienne joined the group of Patrick Scheerer at the Charité-University medicine Berlin, where he investigated the structural basis of the reaction specificity of the lipoxygenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa by X-ray crystallography. In April 2016 he started his PhD in the Structural Bioenergetics Group of Volker Zickermann at the Institute of Biochemistry II with focus on structural biology of mitochondrial complex I (NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase) in Yarrowia lipolytica. Currently Etienne applies various methods to develop new approaches for crystallization and functional analysis of complex 1.
Florian Gourmelon
Florian studied life science with focus on biochemistry and cellular biology at the University of Cergy-Pontoise where he obtained his bachelor and his master degree. For his master thesis a partnership between the University Paris-Sud and Nanobactérie (Hôpital Cochin) was formed under the supervision of Olivier Seksek (University Paris-Sud) and Edouard Alphandéry (Nanobactérie), where he helped to develop a method to measure intra-tumoral temperature variations with a thermic fluorescent sensor using hyperthermia induced by bacterial nanoparticles.
He continued with a master degree in biochemistry and molecular biology with minor focus on pharmacology at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC). For his second master thesis he joined the group of Viktor Magdolen at the Clinical Research Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Technical University of Munich where he worked on the development of a protocol for the quantification of Kallikrein related-peptidases (KLK14) and on analysis of inhibitors against KLK4 as a novel therapy against ovarian cancer on KLK4-7-modulated gene expression.
In January 2016 Florian started his PhD in the Structural Bioenergetics Group of Volker Zickermann at the Institute of Biochemistry II focusing on respiratory complex I from Yarrowia lipolytica and the evolutionary related Mrp cation/proton antiporter.
Karin Siegmund
Karin was trained as technical assistant (PTA) in Darmstadt. 1993 she started working at ZBC, since 2013 she is part of IBC2. She organizes the lab and supports research projects.
