3303 Scott Hall
540 East Canfield
Detroit, MI 48201
Voice: 313-577-5326
FAX: 313-577-5218
l.grossman@wayne.edu

Grossman Lab

My lab studies nuclear encoded mitochondrial genes. We focus on their regulation and function in energy metabolism and the pathologies associated with their dysfunction. Some proteins of the electron transport chain are encoded by mitochondrial DNA and some by nuclear DNA. We have largely focused on the nuclear-encoded subunits, particularly those of cytochrome c oxidase (CcO), the terminal enzyme complex of the respiratory chain.

A recent interest has been a lung and trachea-specific isoform of subunit IV that we discovered, CcO4-2. We are currently examining the lung-specific isoform in particular detail, both by studying its transcriptional regulation, especially by hypoxia, to understand its signaling circuitry and interaction with other cellular components, and by examining a recently created mouse null mutant.

A specific area of emphasis is preterm birth and its relation to metabolic dysfunction in energy metabolism.

We are also interested in their molecular evolution; we have developed the picture that cytochrome c and subunits of complex III and of CcO that interact with it have undergone a period of accelerated evolution suggestive of positive selection during primate ancestry. We have speculated that this accelerated evolution was ultimately driven by the energetic needs of an enlarged neocortex. A portion of this acceleration has had the effect of remodeling the docking site of cytochrome c on CcO so as to change the binding interaction from a predominantly electrostatic one to a predominantly hydrophobic one. We are now seeking to characterize biochemically resulting modifications in electron transport. More generally, we are interested in the genetic changes that have made us uniquely human, and in the relation between rapidly evolving genes and human disease.

Selected Publications

T.R. Schmidt, W. Wu, J.R. Doan, M. Goodman and L.I. Grossman (2003). Retention of a duplicate gene through changes of the subcellular localization signal: a cytochrome c oxidase subunit VIIa-related protein localizes to the Golgi apparatus. J. Mol. Evol. 57, 222-228.

A. Goldberg, T.R. Schmidt, M. Hüttemann, D. Wildman, M. Weiss, M. Goodman and L.I. Grossman (2003). Adaptive evolution of cytochrome c oxidase subunit viii in anthropoid primates. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100, 5873-5878.

M. Hüttemann, S. Jaradat and L.I. Grossman (2003). Cytochrome c oxidase of mammals contains a testes-specific isoform of subunit VIb-the counterpart to testes-specific cytochrome c? Molec. Repro. Dev. 66, 8-16.

M. Hüttemann, T.R. Schmidt and L.I. Grossman (2003). A third isoform of cytochrome c oxidase subunit VIII is present in mammals. Gene 312, 95-102.

D.E. Wildman, M. Uddin, G. Liu, L.I. Grossman and M. Goodman (2003). The 99.4% nonsynonymous and 98.4% synonymous sequence identity between chimpanzees and humans: implications for Darwinian selection and for enlarging the genus Homo. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100, 7181-7188.

M. Uddin, D.E. Wildman, G. Liu, W. Xu, R.M. Johnson, P.R. Hof, G. Kapatos, L.I. Grossman and M. Goodman (2004). Sister grouping of chimpanzees and humans as revealed by genome-wide phylogenetic analysis of brain gene expression profiles. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 2957-2962.

J.W. Doan, T.R. Schmidt, D.E. Wildman, M. Uddin, A. Goldberg, M. Hüttemann, M. Goodman, M.L. Weiss and L.I. Grossman (2004). Coevolution of a multiprotein complex: cytochrome c oxidase subunits show accelerated rates of nonsynonymous substitution in anthropoid primates. Mol. Phylogenet Evol. 33, 944-950.

L.I. Grossman, D.E. Wildman, T.R. Schmidt and M. Goodman (2004). Accelerated evolution of the electron transport chain in anthropoid primates. Trends Genet. 20 , 579-585.

J.W. Doan, T.R. Schmidt, D.E. Wildman, M. Goodman, M.L. Weiss and L.I. Grossman (2005). Rapid nonsynonymous evolution of the iron sulfur protein in anthropoid primates. J. Bioenerg. Biomembr. 37, 35-41.

I. Lee, A.R. Salomon, S. Ficarro, I. Mathes, F. Lottspeich, L.I. Grossman, and M. Hüttemann (2005). cAMP-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of subunit I inhibits cytochrome c oxidase activity. J. Biol. Chem. 280, 6094-6100.

M. Goodman, L.I. Grossman and D.E. Wildman (2005). Moving primate genomics beyond the chimpanzee genome. Trends Genet. 21, 511-517.

D.E. Wildman, C. Chen, O. Erez, L.I. Grossman, M. Goodman and R. Romero (2006). Evolution of the mammalian placenta revealed by phylogenetic analysis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 3203-3208.

I. Lee, A.R. Salomon, K. Yu, J.W. Doan, L.I. Grossman and M. Hüttemann (2006). New prospects for an old enzyme: mammalian cytochrome c is tyrosine phosphorylated in vivo. Biochemistry 45, 9121-9128.

C.C. Sherwood, C.D. Stimpson, M.A. Raghanti, D.E. Wildman, M. Uddin, L.I. Grossman, M. Goodman, J.C. Redmond, C.J. Bonar, JM. Erwin and P.R. Hof (2006). Evolution of Increased Glia-Neuron Ratios in the Human Frontal Cortex. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 13606-13.

M. Uddin, J.C. Opazo, D.E. Wildman, C.C. Sherwood, P. Hof, M. Goodman and L.I. Grossman (2007). Molecular evolution of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 5A gene in primates. BMC Evol. Biol., in press.

C. Chen, J.C. Opazo, O. Erez, M. Uddin, J. Santolaya-Forgas, M. Goodman, L.I. Grossman, R. Romero and D.E. Wildman (2007). Mammalian progesterone receptors show evidence of adaptive evolution associated with N-terminus transactivation and transrepression function. Mol. Phylogenet Evol., in press.

M. Hüttemann, I. Lee, J. Liu and L.I. Grossman (2007). Transcription of cytochrome c oxidase subunit IV-2 is controlled by a novel conserved oxygen responsive element. FEBS J 274, 5737-5748.

G. Liu, M. Uddin, M. Goodman, L.I. Grossman, R. Romero, D.E. Wildman (2007). OCPAT: an online codon-preserved alignment tool for evolutionary genomic analysis of protein coding sequences. Source Code for Biology and Medicine 2:5.

D.E. Wildman, M. Uddin, J.C. Opazo, G. Liu, V. Lefort, O. Gascuel, L.I. Grossman, R. Romero, and M. Goodman (2007). Genomics, biogeography, and the diversification of placental mammals. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 14395-14400.