Edith Wilson Miles

Edith Wilson Miles
Born
Edith Margaret Wilson
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley
Scientific career
ThesisThe bacterial metabolism of [alpha-methylserine and hydroxymethylserine] (1962)

Edith Wilson Miles (born Edith Margaret Wilson) is a biochemist known for her work on the structure and function of enzymes, especially her work on tryptophan synthase.

Education and career

Miles received her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1957, and then moved to the University of California, Berkeley where she earned a Ph.D. in 1962[1] working in Esmond Emerson Snell's lab with Jesse Rabinowitz and Edward Adelberg as her advisors.[2][3] With funding from the American Cancer Society, she moved to the University of Leicester as a postdoctoral researcher with Hans Kornberg. From 1964 until 1966, she was a postdoctoral investigator at Tufts University working with Alton Meister, and then she accepted an independent position at the National Institutes of Health. In 2000 she became a Scientist Emeritus.[1]

Research

Wilson's graduate research characterized an enzyme that required pyridoxal phosphate and tetrahydrofolate to convert α-methylserine to alanine and formaldehyde.[4][5] Her subsequent work examined the glyoxylate cycle in bacterial cells and led to further investigation of enzymes that require pyridoxal phosphate.[6] Upon her move to the National Institutes of Health, she began to focus on tryptophan synthase,[7][8][9] first by establishing the mechanism of the enzyme[10] which would later allow her to investigate interactions between the subunits of the enzyme.[1] Wilson went on to use x-ray crystallography to obtain the structure of the enzyme,[11][12] and used mutant forms of Salmonella typhimurium to identify the significant components of the enzyme.[1] She also showed that α2β2 complex of tryptophan synthase could unfold in the presence of guanine hydrochloride,[13] details about protein folding and shape that became relevant in later research about barrel-shaped proteins.[14][15]

Selected publications

  • Wilson, EM; Kornberg, HL (September 1, 1963). "PROPERTIES OF CRYSTALLINE l-ASPARTATE 4-CARBOXY-LYASE FROM ACHROMOBACTER SP". Biochemical Journal. 88 (3): 578–587. doi:10.1042/bj0880578. ISSN 0006-2936. PMC 1202217. PMID 14071532.
  • Hyde, C C; Ahmed, S A; Padlan, E A; Miles, E W; Davies, D R (1988). "Three-dimensional structure of the tryptophan synthase alpha 2 beta 2 multienzyme complex from Salmonella typhimurium". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 263 (33): 17857–17871. doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(19)77913-7. ISSN 0021-9258. PMID 3053720.
  • Miles, Edith Wilson (1991). "Structural basis for catalysis by tryptophan synthase". Advances in enzymology : and related areas of molecular biology. Vol.64. Vol. 64. New York; Chichester: Wiley. pp. 93–172. ISBN 978-0-471-50949-3.
  • Miles, Edith Wilson; Rhee, Sangkee; Davies, David R. (1999). "The Molecular Basis of Substrate Channeling". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 274 (18): 12193–12196. doi:10.1074/jbc.274.18.12193. PMID 10212181.
  • Miles, Edith Wilson (April 5, 2013). "The Tryptophan Synthase α2β2 Complex: A Model for Substrate Channeling, Allosteric Communication, and Pyridoxal Phosphate Catalysis". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 288 (14): 10084–10091. doi:10.1074/jbc.X113.463331. ISSN 0021-9258. PMC 3617248. PMID 23426371.

Awards and honors

While at the University of Texas at Austin, Miles (then known as Edith Margaret Wilson) was inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta,[16][17] an honor society that recognizes achievement of first year university students and for which she later served as secretary.[18] In her senior year, 1957, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa[19]: 170 and was a member of Mortar Board.[19]: 189  In 1994, Miles received the Hillebrand Award, named for William Francis Hillebrand, from the Chemical Society of Washington, a section of the American Chemical Society.[20]

Personal life

Her husband, H. Todd Miles, also worked at the National Institutes of Health and became Scientist Emeritus in 2000.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Miles, Edith Wilson (April 5, 2013). "The Tryptophan Synthase α2β2 Complex: A Model for Substrate Channeling, Allosteric Communication, and Pyridoxal Phosphate Catalysis". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 288 (14): 10084–10091. doi:10.1074/jbc.X113.463331. ISSN 0021-9258. PMC 3617248. PMID 23426371.
  2. ^ Snell, Esmond E. (1993). "FROM BACTERIAL NUTRITION TO ENZYME STRUCTURE: A Personal Odyssey". Annual Review of Biochemistry. 62 (1): 1–26. doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.62.070193.000245. ISSN 0066-4154. PMID 8352584.
  3. ^ Miles, Edith Wilson; Metzler, David E. (November 1, 2004). "Esmond Emerson Snell (1914–2003)". The Journal of Nutrition. 134 (11): 2907–2910. doi:10.1093/jn/134.11.2907. ISSN 0022-3166. PMID 15514250.
  4. ^ Wilson, Edith M.; Snell, Esmond E. (1962). "Metabolism of α-Methylserine". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 237 (10): 3171–3179. doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(18)50139-3. ISSN 0021-9258.
  5. ^ Wilson, Edith M.; Snell, Esmond E. (1962). "Metabolism of α-Methylserine". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 237 (10): 3180–3184. doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(18)50140-x. ISSN 0021-9258.
  6. ^ WILSON, EM; KORNBERG, HL (September 1, 1963). "PROPERTIES OF CRYSTALLINE l-ASPARTATE 4-CARBOXY-LYASE FROM ACHROMOBACTER SP". Biochemical Journal. 88 (3): 578–587. doi:10.1042/bj0880578. ISSN 0006-2936. PMC 1202217. PMID 14071532.
  7. ^ Miles, Edith Wilson (1991). "Structural basis for catalysis by tryptophan synthase". Advances in enzymology : and related areas of molecular biology. Vol.64. Vol. 64. NewYork; Chichester: Wiley. pp. 93–172. ISBN 978-0-471-50949-3.
  8. ^ Miles, Edith Wilson (1991). "Tryptophan synthase: structure, function, and subunit interaction". Advances in enzymology : and related areas of molecular biology. Vol.64. Vol. 49. NewYork; Chichester: Wiley. pp. 127–. ISBN 978-0-471-50949-3.
  9. ^ "Chapter 8 Tryptophan synthase structure, function, and protein engineering". Subcellular biochemistry. Vol.24, Proteins: structure, function and engineering. New York; London: Plenum. 1995. pp. 207–254. ISBN 978-0-306-44846-1.
  10. ^ Miles, Edith Wilson.; Hatanaka, M.; Crawford, I. P. (August 1, 1968). "A new thiol-dependent transamination reaction catalyzed by the B protein of Escherichia coli tryptophan synthetase". Biochemistry. 7 (8): 2742–2753. doi:10.1021/bi00848a008. ISSN 0006-2960. PMID 4877071.
  11. ^ Ahmed, S A; Miles, E W; Davies, D R (1985). "Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic data of the tryptophan synthase alpha 2 beta 2 complex from Salmonella typhimurium". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 260 (6): 3716–3718. doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(19)83682-7. ISSN 0021-9258. PMID 3882715.
  12. ^ Hyde, C C; Ahmed, S A; Padlan, E A; Miles, E W; Davies, D R (1988). "Three-dimensional structure of the tryptophan synthase alpha 2 beta 2 multienzyme complex from Salmonella typhimurium". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 263 (33): 17857–17871. doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(19)77913-7. ISSN 0021-9258. PMID 3053720.
  13. ^ Miles, Edith Wilson; Yutani, Katsuhide; Ogasahara, Kyoko (May 25, 1982). "Guanidine hydrochloride-induced unfolding of the .alpha. subunit of tryptophan synthase and of the two .alpha. proteolytic fragments: evidence for stepwise unfolding of the two .alpha. domains". Biochemistry. 21 (11): 2586–2592. doi:10.1021/bi00540a002. ISSN 0006-2960. PMID 7046790.
  14. ^ Miles, Edith Wilson; Davies, David R. (2000). "On the Ancestry of Barrels". Science. 289 (5484): 1490. doi:10.1126/science.289.5484.1490. ISSN 0036-8075. JSTOR 3077778. PMID 10991737. S2CID 82637907.
  15. ^ "Protein Clipping in Lab and Cell". Science News. 113 (17): 279–280. 1978. doi:10.2307/3962872. ISSN 0036-8423. JSTOR 3962872.
  16. ^ "Alpha Lambda Delta - Honorary scholastic fraternity for freshman". University of Texas at Austin. Archived from the original on January 9, 2022. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
  17. ^ University Of Texas At Austin (1955). Cactus Yearbook, 1955. University of Texas at Austin. p. 283. doi:10.15781/T2ZG6GP6H.
  18. ^ University Of Texas At Austin (1956). Cactus Yearbook, 1956. University of Texas at Austin. p. 167. doi:10.15781/T23776B01.
  19. ^ a b University Of Texas At Austin (1957). Cactus Yearbook, 1957. University of Texas at Austin. p. 167. doi:10.15781/T23776B01. hdl:2152/61517.
  20. ^ "Past Awardees of the CSW Hillebrand Award" (PDF). The Capital Chemist. Vol. 59, no. 6. 2009 [August/September 2009]. Retrieved January 9, 2022.