Jens Christian Skou
Jens Christian Skou | |
---|---|
Na+,K+-ATPase | |
Awards | Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1997) Fernström Prize (1985) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physiology, Biophysics, Biochemistry |
Institutions | Aarhus University |
Jens Christian Skou (Danish pronunciation: [ˈjens ˈkʰʁestjæn ˈskʌwˀ]; 8 October 1918 – 28 May 2018) was a Danish biochemist and Nobel laureate.[1]
Early life
Skou was born in
Career
In 1997 he received the
Skou had taken a few years away from his clinical training in the early 1950s to study the action of
Skou thought that other types of membrane protein might also be affected by local anaesthetics dissolving in the lipid part of the membrane. He therefore had the idea of looking at an enzyme which was embedded in the membrane and finding out if its properties were affected by local anaesthetics. He looked at ATPase in crab nerves.
The enzyme was there, but its activity was very variable and he needed a highly active enzyme for his studies. Eventually he managed to discover that ATPase was most active when exposed to the right combination of sodium, potassium and magnesium ions. Only then did he realise that this enzyme might have something to do with the active movement of sodium and potassium across the plasma membrane. This idea had been postulated many years before, however, the mechanism was quite unknown.
Skou published his findings.[3] However, in his paper he was wary of identifying the enzyme with the active ion movement, so he left out the term “sodium-potassium pump” from the title of his paper. Indeed, he seems to have realised the importance of his discovery only gradually, and he continued his studies on local anaesthetics.
In 1958 Skou went to a conference in Vienna to describe his work on cholinesterase. There he met Robert Post (born 1920[4]), who had been studying the pumping of sodium and potassium in red blood cells. Post had recently discovered that three sodium ions were pumped out of the cell for every two potassium ions pumped in, and in his research he had made use of a substance called ouabain (or g-strophanthin) which had recently been shown to inhibit the pump[5]).
Post had not read Skou’s paper, but he was excited when Skou told him about his work with ATPase. Post asked whether the enzyme was inhibited by ouabain. At this stage Skou was unaware that ouabain inhibited the pump, but he immediately telephoned his lab and arranged for the experiment to be done. Ouabain did indeed inhibit the enzyme, thus establishing a link between the enzyme and the sodium-potassium pump.[6]
Following the Nobel Prize, Skou gave several interviews recounting the story of his discoveries, and at age 94 was reported to still keep up with publications in his field.[7][8] He died on 28 May 2018 in Aarhus, Denmark at the age of 99, less than five months shy of his 100th birthday.[9][10][11]
References
- ^ Stevnhøj, Henriette (29 May 2018). "Nobelpristager, læge og fysiolog Jens Christian Skou er død 99 år". newsroom.au.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1997". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- S2CID 32516710.
- . Retrieved 29 May 2018 – via www.jbc.org.
- PMID 14434402.
- PMID 13913700.
- ^ "Held og tilfældighed førte Jens Christian Skou til Nobelprisen". videnskab.dk. 22 March 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Professor livet ud". stiften.dk. 7 July 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ Stevnhøj, Henriette (29 May 2018). "Nobel Laureate, medical doctor and physiologist Jens Christian Skou has died". newsroom.au.dk.
- ^ Uriy (29 May 2018). "In Denmark died Nobel prize in chemistry". 24-my.info. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- ^ "Dansk nobelprismodtager i kemi er død – 99 år". www.fyens.dk (in Danish). 29 May 2018.
- Clausen, Torben (August 2007). "[J.C. Skou identified Na+,K+-pump—a breakthrough and its significance]". PMID 17878005.
- Boldyrev, A. A. (2000). "Na+,K+-ATPase: 40 years of investigations". PMID 10963431.
- Skou, J. C. (August 1998). "Nobel Lecture. The identification of the sodium pump". S2CID 189901020.
- Klodos, I. (1998). "[Nobel Prize for Jens Christian Skou for the discovery of Na(+)-K+ ATPase]". PMID 9738232.
- Wojtczak, L. (1998). "[The Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1997—mitochondrial ATP synthase]". PMID 9738231.
- Clausen, T.; Persson, A. E. (May 1998). "Jens Christian Skou awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry for the identification of the Na+, K(+)-pump". PMID 9648616.
- Service, R. F. (October 1997). "Chemistry prize taps the energy of life". S2CID 5371266.
- Sejersted, O. M. (December 1997). "[Nobel Prize in chemistry]". PMID 9456574.
- Skou, J. C. (1989). "The identification of the sodium-pump as the membrane-bound Na+/K+-ATPase: a commentary on 'The Influence of Some Cations on an Adenosine Triphosphatase from Peripheral Nerves'". PMID 2550073.
- Nissen, P. (2018). "Jens Christian Skou (1918–2018)". S2CID 51621227.
External links
- Jens Christian Skou on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture on "The Identification of the Sodium-Potassium Pump"