David Hughes, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Aging & Metabolism Research Program
Research
The loss of skeletal muscle mass can be caused by genetic or external factors including disease and hospitalization. Muscle loss, or atrophy, affects the quality of life for many people as they age.
Protein turnover is important in maintaining skeletal muscle health and contributes to increasing and decreasing muscle size. Protein degradation is central to the process of muscle atrophy, and a set of proteins called ubiquitin ligases are critical in targeting specific proteins for degradation. I study how ubiquitin ligases regulate protein quality control and contribute to the regulation of skeletal muscle mass and health.
Publications
Hughes DC, Baehr LM, Driscoll JR, Lynch SA, Waddell DS, Bodine SC. (2020). Identification and characterization of Fbxl22, a novel skeletal muscle atrophy-promoting E3 Ubiquitin ligase. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol, 319 (14). C700-C719.
Hughes DC, Turner DC, Baehr LM, Seaborne RA, Viggars M, Jarvis JC, Gorski PP, Stewart CE, Owens DJ, Bodine SC, Sharples AP. (2021). Knockdown of the E3 Ubiquitin ligase UBR5 and its role in skeletal muscle anabolism. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol, 320 (1). C45-C56.
Seaborne RA, Hughes DC, Turner DC, Owens DJ, Baehr LM, Gorski P, Semenova EA, Borisov OV, Larin AK, Popov DV, Generozov EV, Sutherland H, Ahmetov II, Jarvis JC, Bodine SC, Sharples AP. (2019). UBR5 is a novel E3 ubiquitin ligase involved in skeletal muscle hypertrophy and recovery from atrophy. J Physiol, 597 (14). 3727-3749.
Hughes DC, Marcotte GR, Marshall AG, West DW, Baehr LM, Wallace MA, Saleh PM, Bodine SC & Baar K. (2017). Age-related differences in dystrophin: impact on force transfer proteins, membrane integrity and neuromuscular junction stability. Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences,1;72(5):640-648.
Hughes DC, Stewart CE, Sculthorpe N, Dugdale HF, Yousefian F, Lewis MP, Sharples AP. (2016). Testosterone enables growth and hypertrophy in fusion impaired myoblasts that display myotube atrophy: deciphering the role of androgen and IGF-I receptors. Biogerontology, 17 (3). 619-39.
Sharples AP, Hughes DC, Deane CS, Saini A, Selman C, Stewart CE. (2015). Longevity and skeletal muscle mass: the role of IGF signaling, the sirtuins, dietary restriction and protein intake. Aging Cell, 14 (4). 511-23.
Contact
Aging & Metabolism Research Program, MS 46
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 N.E. 13th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73104
Phone: 405-271-3458
E-mail: David-Hughes@omrf.org
