Molecular Machines Involved in Peroxisome Biogenesis and Maintenance

In eukaryotes, lipid metabolism requires the function of peroxisomes. These multitasking organelles are also part of species-specific pathways such as the glyoxylate cycle in yeast and plants or the synthesis of ether lipid in mammals. Proteins required for the biogenesis of peroxisomes typically assemble in large molecular complexes, which participate in membrane formation, protein transport, peroxisome duplication and - inheritance during cell division. Peroxisomal function is essential for life. Mutations in PEX genes, encoding for biogenesis factors, are often associated with lethal disorders. The association of peroxisomes with other organelles suggests an extensive participation in organellar crosstalk. This book represents a state-of-the-art review in the field of peroxisome research encompassing the cell and molecular biology of peroxisome biogenesis and its diseases, the protein complexes involved in this process and the modern technologies applied to study them. The book is intended for graduate students, researchers and lecturers in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology with a biomedical background.

Cecile Brocard received her PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Vienna, Austria in 1998. She was CIHR post Doctoral fellow at the University of Western Ontario, Medical Sciences, Canada and at the University of Vienna, Austria, where she also was a Guest Professor from 2006 to 2007. In 2007 she became independent research group leader and Elisa Richter Fellow at the Max-F. Perutz Laboratories in Vienna. Since 2012 Cecile has been Head of research in the start up company Tissue Med Biosciences, in Krems an der Donau, Austria.

Andreas Hartig has a PhD in Biochemistry. He was Fogarty Fellow in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, NINCDS, NIH, Bethesda, USA and Postdoctoral fellow at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University, in New Jersey and at the Department of Genetics, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. He was research Assistant at the Institute of Biochemistry, University of Vienna, Austria and became Associate Professor in Biochemistry in 1993 where he still works today.