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RESEARCHERS STUDY ENZYMES, KNOWN AS FLAVIN-CONTAINING MONOXYGENASES OR FMOS
27 January 2005 - University of Wisconsin-Madison
| People with a rare enzyme mutation that makes their bodies smell like rotten fish find it devastating. Among those afflicted, suicide rates are high. But can those same enzymes yield desirable effects as well? |
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine believe it's possible, so they are studying these enzymes, known as flavin-containing monoxygenases or FMOs. FMOs cause fish malodor syndrome when they fail to metabolize a dietary constituent (trimethylamine). Adnan Elfarra and Mark Brownfield, both faculty in the veterinary school's Department of Comparative Biosciences, hope that by learning how the enzymes interact with a variety of chemicals in the body, they'll get a better sense of how chemicals can cause disease or toxicity, as well as how they may get detoxified. Their work, which is sponsored by a recently renewed National Institutes of Health grant, could help discover the physiological function of this enzyme. FMOs are found in both human and animal tissues. They interact with a wide variety of drugs, pesticides and amino acids. The researchers are trying to determine whether these interactions can affect how the body handles certain chemicals, and, if so, whether toxicities occur as a result. The answers they find could lead to better designs of drugs and chemicals to avoid problems, help identify populations at high risk, or lead to development of prevention or intervention methods. "Several chemical reactions can occur in our body," Elfarra says. "Some are desirable and some are undesirable. The balance between the two determines the difference between a therapeutic and toxic response." Ultimately, the researchers hope to assess the risks associated with human and animal exposure to certain drugs, chemical products and environmental pollutants. Fish-odor syndrome also occurs in a breed of dairy cattle in Sweden, where it can impact milk supplies.
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About: University of Wisconsin-Madison
In achievement and prestige, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has long been recognized as one of America’s great universities. A public, land-grant institution, UW-Madison offers a complete spectrum of liberal arts studies, professional programs and student activities. Many of its programs are hailed as world leaders in instruction, research and public service.The university traces its roots to a clause in the Wisconsin Constitution, which decreed that the state should have a prominent public university. In 1848, Nelson Dewey, Wisconsin’s first governor, signed the act that formally created the university, and its first class, with 17 students, met in a Madison school building on February 5, 1849. From those humble beginnings, the university has grown into a large, diverse community, with about 40,000 students enrolled each year. These students represent every state in the nation, as well as countries from around the globe, making for a truly international population. UW-Madison is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Wisconsin System, a statewide network of 13 comprehensive universities, 13 freshman-sophomore transfer colleges and an extension service. One of two doctorate-granting universities in the system, UW-Madison’s specific mission is to provide "a learning environment in which faculty, staff and students can discover, examine critically, preserve and transmit the knowledge, wisdom and values that will help insure the survival of this and future generations and improve the quality of life for all." The university achieves these ends through innovative programs of research, teaching and public service. Throughout its history, UW-Madison has sought to bring the power of learning into the daily lives of its students through innovations such as residential learning communities and service-learning opportunities. Students also participate freely in research, which has led to life-improving inventions from more fuel-efficient engines to cutting-edge genetic therapies. Students, faculty and staff are motivated by a tradition known as the "Wisconsin Idea," described by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904 as the compelling need to carry "the beneficent influence of the university ... to every home in the state." The Wisconsin Idea permeates the university’s work and helps forge close working relationships among university faculty and students and the state’s industries and government. |
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