BETHESDA, MD – Denis V. Titov, of the University of California, Berkeley, USA will be honored as the recipient of the Biophysical Journal Paper of the Year-Early Career Investigator Award at the 70 th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, held February 21-25 in San Francisco, California. This award recognizes the work of outstanding early career investigators in biophysics. The winning paper is titled “ Glycolysis Model Shows that Allostery Maintains High ATP and Limits Accumulation of Intermediates .” The paper was published in Volume 124, Issue 10 of Biophysical Journal .
Glycolysis metabolic pathway is one of the most ancient sets of biochemical reactions that are conserved across all domains of life. This key pathway harnesses the breakdown of glucose to produce energy in the form of ATP and precursors for the rest of energy metabolism. The glycolytic pathway must work at a wide range of ATP demands and be robust to variations in enzyme concentrations and reaction rates. Due to complexity of glycolysis and experimental challenges, much of our understanding of glycolytic regulation has come from mathematical models, but so far these models were scarce and simplified.
Titov and colleagues used a system of differential equations to develop the first detailed biophysical model of glycolysis based on decades of in vitro kinetic data. They solved a difficult problem of estimating 172 parameters from dozens of datasets and found that mass action reactions alone are sufficient to maintain the high and stable energy of ATP hydrolysis. Furthermore, they found that allosteric regulation of several glycolytic enzymes by ATP, ADP and inorganic phosphate is required to prevent uncontrolled accumulation of glycolysis intermediates. This pioneering model will boost quantitative understanding of cell energy metabolism.
“The Paper of the Year is an award that recognizes work by an early career investigator published in the Biophysical Journal ,“ said Vasanthi Jayaraman, Editor-in-Chief. “We congratulate Denis V. Titov for his work that provides a detailed and experimentally grounded model of glycolysis. The work sets an important benchmark for the field and will shape how we think about cellular energy metabolism going forward.”
The Biophysical Journal is the Biophysical Society's flagship journal which was first published in 1960 and has been published in partnership with Cell Press since 2009. The journal spans a wide range of subjects and disciplines that provide quantitative insight into fundamental problems at the molecular, cellular, systems, and whole-organism levels.
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The Biophysical Society, founded in 1958, is a professional, scientific society established to lead an innovative global community working at the interface of the physical and life sciences, across all levels of complexity, and to foster the dissemination of that knowledge. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its Annual Meeting, publications, and outreach activities. Its 6,500 members are located throughout the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry .