The Biosynthesis of Polyamines: the Work of Herbert Tabor and Celia White Tabor
Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: The Biosynthesis of Spermidine and Spermine from Putrescine and Methionine (Tabor, H., Rosenthal, S. M., and Tabor, C. W. (1958) J. Biol. Chem. 233, 907–914) The speEspeD Operon of Escherichia coli. Formation and Processing of a Proenzyme Form of S-Adenosylmethionine Decarboxylase (Tabor, C. W., and Tabor, H. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 16037–16040) Herbert “Herb” Tabor was born in New York City in 1918. He entered City College in 1933 but transferred to the biochemical sciences program at Harvard College 2 years later. He graduated in 1937, after which he enrolled at Harvard Medical School. During his last year in medical school, he worked with Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) Classics author A. Baird Hastings (1JBC Classics: Conant, J. B., Cramer, R. D., Hastings, A. B., Klemperer, F. W., Solomon, A. K., and Vennesland, B. (1941) J. Biol. Chem. 137, 557–566; Soloman, A. K., Vennesland, B., Klemperer, F. W., Buchanan, J. M., and Hastings, A. B. (1941) J. Biol. Chem. 140, 171–182 (http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/279/2/e2)Google Scholar) on the ionization constant of MgHPO4. Fittingly, he published this work in his very first JBC paper (2Tabor H. Hastings A.B. J. Biol. Chem. 1943; 148 (The ionization constant of secondary magnesium phosphate.): 627-632Abstract Full Text PDF Google Scholar). In 1942, Herb started an internship in medicine at the Yale-New Haven Hospital. He was able to do some work in John Peters' laboratory in the evenings, developing a carbon monoxide method for measuring blood volumes. In January 1943, he was commissioned in the U.S. Public Health Service and became a medical officer on a Coast Guard Cutter. Nine months later, he was transferred to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and assigned to work with Sanford M. Rosenthal on the electrolyte changes resulting from traumatic shock. After this work was finished, he worked on a variety of projects, including the purification of diamine oxidase (histaminase) and the metabolism of histidine. In 1946, Herb married Celia White, and a lifelong collaboration began. The two had met on a streetcar in Boston when Herb was in medical school. Celia, who was born in Boston in 1918, was enrolled at Radcliffe College and was returning from the Massachusetts General Hospital where she was doing research as part of her senior thesis. Later, she was one of six women medical students in her class at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and was also the first woman to be accepted for an internship at the Massachusetts General Hospital. After completing her internship, Celia became assistant resident in medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School Hospital. After they married, Celia joined the Department of Pharmacology at George Washington University Medical School in Washington, D. C. where she carried out research on the conversion of p-aminobenzoic acid to a glucuronide derivative. She was also an attending physician at Gallinger Hospital and did laboratory work at George Washington Cancer Clinic. In 1952, she was commissioned in the U.S. Public Health Service and assigned to the NIH. The Tabors have worked together at the NIH since 1952, studying polyamines. They have become authorities on the microbial biosynthetic pathways of polyamines, the enzymes that catalyze steps in these pathways, and the functions of polyamines. They became involved with polyamines through Rosenthal. He felt that the compounds, which were present in significant concentrations in many tissues, must have a physiological significance. Rosenthal injected spermine into mice, which then developed severe necrosis of the renal tubules and kidney failure and died. These results stimulated Rosenthal to study the distribution and metabolism of spermine and other polyamines. Celia soon joined him in these studies, performing an extensive investigation of the distribution of polyamines in different tissues and their toxicity. She found that the compounds were widely distributed but that most biological samples contained only three amines: putrescine, spermidine, and spermine. Rosenthal's interest in spermine toxicity also led to their purification of beef plasma amine oxidase, the enzyme responsible for oxidizing spermine to a toxic product. In 1956 Celia and Herb began studying the biosynthesis of spermidine and spermine. As reported in the first JBC Classic reprinted here, they synthesized doubly labeled [15N, 14C]putrescine and showed that it is incorporated into spermine and spermidine in Escherichia coli and Aspergillus nidulans. Both 15N and 14C were incorporated to the same extent, indicating that putrescine was incorporated as a unit. They also showed that the biosynthesis of spermidine in E. coli requires putrescine, l-methionine, ATP, and Mg2+ and that S-adenosylmethionine was an intermediate in the reaction. Eventually, the Tabors determined that S-adenosylmethionine synthase, S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase, and putrescine aminotransferase were involved in the reaction. After establishing the biosynthetic pathways of spermidine and spermine, the Tabors proceeded to identify the genes involved in each step in both E. coli and Saccharomyes cerevisiae. The gene for S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase was of particular interest and importance because, as reported in the second JBC Classic reprinted here, the Tabors discovered that the enzyme was first formed as a proenzyme. The E. coli version of this proenzyme was then cleaved posttransationally at a lysylserine bond, causing the formation of a pyruvoyl end group that was essential for the enzyme's activity. The Tabors have remained at the NIH for their entire careers and continued to work on putrescine, spermidine, and spermine. They showed that the polyamines are required for growth, sporulation, maintenance of the killer dsRNA virus, protection against oxidative damage, protection against elevated temperatures, fidelity of protein biosynthesis, and maintenance of mitochondria. Currently, Herb is Chief of the Pharmacology Section of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and Celia has retired from her position at the NIH. Not only has Herb Tabor made valuable contributions to science via his research, but his most lasting legacy will undoubtedly be his more than 50 years of service and leadership to the JBC. He was a member of the JBC editorial board from 1961 to 1966 and an Associate Editor from 1967 to 1968. He became Acting Editor of the Journal in 1969 and eventually Editor in 1971. He has sustained a philosophy that the JBC should remain true to the goals of the Journal founders: to publish papers in any area of biochemistry without regard to trendiness or cliquishness and ensure that all submissions be reviewed fairly and thoroughly. He has also guided the Journal through an enormous growth period from approximately 1,520 submissions in 1971 to over 15,000 in 2005. Importantly, he led a technical revolution in science publishing with the 1995 debut of JBC Online, the first science journal to be published online. In recognition of Herb's contributions to the JBC, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology established the Herbert Tabor/Journal of Biological Chemistry Lectureship in 2004. Celia and Herb Tabor have jointly received several prizes for their research including the 1986 Hillebrand Prize from the Chemical Society of Washington, the 1996 Rose Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the 1998 American Women in Science Excellence in Mentoring Award. Herb is also the recipient of the 1956 Ninth Annual Arthur S. Flemming Award and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1971 and the National Academy of Sciences in 1977. 1Biographical information on Herbert and Celia Tabor was taken from Ref. 3Tabor C.W. Tabor H. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 1999; 68 (It all started on a streetcar in Boston.): 1-32Crossref PubMed Scopus (20) Google Scholar. 1Biographical information on Herbert and Celia Tabor was taken from Ref. 3Tabor C.W. Tabor H. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 1999; 68 (It all started on a streetcar in Boston.): 1-32Crossref PubMed Scopus (20) Google Scholar.
Source: Journal of Biological Chemistry
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,430
OpenAlex ID: W1513950254