| Summary: | Numerous phenomena in aging animals are thought to result from chemical
damage by activated oxygen species. One of the prime candidates for a causative
agent in aging is superoxide, a free radical species resulting from single electron
transfer to molecular oxygen. Superoxide is produced in normal metabolism by
occasional adventitious oxidation of electron carriers higher up in the electron-transport
chain (ETC) by oxygen, and by the activities of several oxidative enzymes, such as
xanthine oxidase. A cDNA for Drosophila manganese-containing matrix localized
superoxide dismutase was cloned and sequenced. To study the effects on Drosophila
life span of reducing mitochondrial matrix superoxide levels, protein over expression
studies by introduction of extra copies of the gene in a genetically defined background
population were planed. A partial gene for a putative manganese superoxide dismutase
from an unknown organism was also isolated. Manganese and iron superoxide
dismutase protein homology groups and sequence conservation are also explored. === Medicine, Faculty of === Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of === Graduate
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