Research
Six months after his arrival in Seattle, Fischer began collaborating with Ed Krebs. They worked on glycogen phosphorylase; Krebs and Fischer defined a series of reactions leading to the activation/inactivation of this enzyme as triggered by hormones and calcium, and in the process discovering reversible protein phosphorylation.
Explained simply reversible protein phosphorylation works like this: a protein kinase moves a phosphate group from adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to a protein. The shape and the function of the protein is altered enabling it to take part in some biological process. When the protein has completed its role a protein phosphatase removes the phosphate and the protein reverts to its original state. This cycle takes place to control an enormous number of metabolic processes.
For the key discovery of reversible protein phosphorylation, Fischer and Krebs were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1992.
Through his career Fischer's research continued to look at the role reversible protein phosphorylation played in a variety of cellular processes.
Read more about this topic: Edmond H. Fischer
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