Christian Raetz: Scientist and Friend Extraordinaire

Dowhan, William; Nikaido, Hiroshi; Stubbe, JoAnne; Kozarich, John W.; Wickner, William; Russell, David W.; Garrett, Teresa A.; Brozek, Kathryn A.; Modrich, Paul

doi:10.1146/annurev-biochem-012512-091530

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 73 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…Whitfield & Trent (3) first outline the pioneering combination of biochemistry, enzymology, genetics, and structural biology that characterized the nine enzymes responsible for the so-called Raetz pathway leading to the synthesis of the core lipid component (Kdo 2 -lipid A) of LPS. The pathway was named in honor of Christian Raetz, whose scientific career and personal life are summarized elsewhere (9). The elucidation of this pathway and its variants by Raetz relied heavily on the use of ESI-MS. Escherichia coli has served as the primary organism for unraveling the synthesis of LPS, which has been the template for studies on variations in other bacteria.…”

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confidence: 99%

Lipids and Extracellular Materials

Dowhan

2014

Annu. Rev. Biochem.

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Lipids and Extracellular Materials

Dowhan

2014

Annu. Rev. Biochem.

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“…Lipid A-base lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is the other phospholipid of Gram-negative that forms the outer lipid leaflet of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. The biochemistry, enzymology and genetics of Lipid A were largely defined by Chris Raetz (Dowhan et al, 2013;Whitfield and Trent, 2014), a trainee of the Kennedy lab. These initial findings laid the foundation for continuing studies in E. coli and other microbial systems including yeast providing excellent model systems for studying lipid involvement in bacterial antibiotic resistance and function of lipids in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems.…”

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Eugene P. Kennedy’s Legacy: Defining Bacterial Phospholipid Pathways and Function

Dowhan

Bogdanov

2021

Front. Mol. Biosci.

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In the 1950’s and 1960’s Eugene P. Kennedy laid out the blueprint for phospholipid biosynthesis in somatic cells and Escherichia coli, which have been coined the Kennedy Pathways for phospholipid biosynthesis. His research group continued to make seminal contributions in the area of phospholipids until his retirement in the early 1990’s. During these years he mentored many young scientists that continued to build on his early discoveries and who also mentored additional scientists that continue to make important contributions in areas related to phospholipids and membrane biogenesis. This review will focus on the initial E. coli Kennedy Pathways and how his early contributions have laid the foundation for our current understanding of bacterial phospholipid genetics, biochemistry and function as carried on by his scientific progeny and others who have been inspired to study microbial phospholipids.

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Understanding phospholipid function: Why are there so many lipids?

Dowhan¹

2017

Journal of Biological Chemistry

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In the 1970s, phospholipids were still considered mere building blocks of the membrane lipid bilayer, but the subsequent realization that phospholipids could also serve as second messengers brought new interest to the field. My own passion for the unique amphipathic properties of lipids led me to seek other, non-signaling functions for phospholipids, particularly in their interactions with membrane proteins. This seemed to be the last frontier in protein chemistry and enzymology to be conquered. I was fortunate to find my way to Eugene Kennedy's laboratory, where both membrane proteins and phospholipids were the foci of study, thus providing a jumping-off point for advancing our fundamental understanding of lipid synthesis, membrane protein biosynthesis, phospholipid and membrane protein trafficking, and the cellular roles of phospholipids. After purifying and characterizing enzymes of phospholipid biosynthesis in Escherichia coli and cloning of several of the genes encoding these enzymes in E. coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, I was in a position to alter phospholipid composition in a systematic manner during the cell cycle in these microorganisms. My group was able to establish, contrary to common assumption (derived from the fact that membrane proteins retain activity in detergent extracts) that phospholipid environment is a strong determining factor in the function of membrane proteins. We showed that molecular genetic alterations in membrane lipid composition result in many phenotypes, and uncovered direct lipid-protein interactions that govern dynamic structural and functional properties of membrane proteins. Here I present my personal "reflections" on how our understanding of phospholipid functions has evolved.

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Christian Raetz: Scientist and Friend Extraordinaire

Cited by 4 publications

References 73 publications

Lipids and Extracellular Materials

Lipids and Extracellular Materials

Eugene P. Kennedy’s Legacy: Defining Bacterial Phospholipid Pathways and Function

Understanding phospholipid function: Why are there so many lipids?

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