Biochemistry

Thomas P. Mawhinney

Professor of Biochemistry
State Chemist of Missouri
Director of Agricultural Experiment Station Chemical Laboratories

Educational background

Degree	School	Location	Major
BS	Fairleigh Dickenson University	Teaneck, N.J.	Biochemistry
PhD	Union University, Albany Medical Center	Albany, N.Y.	Molecular Biology and Forensic Pathology

Notable honors and service

• Director, Analytical Services, Agricultural Experiment Station Chemical Laboratories
• State Chemist of Missouri
• Director, Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry Facility
• American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS) Approved Chemist in Laboratory Proficiency Program
• University Extension Community Resource Development Association (UECRDA) Award, Friend of UECRDA, University of Missouri 2008
• University of Missouri School of Medicine Curriculum Board Teaching Excellence Award - Outstanding Pre-Clinical Instructor 2007
• Excellence in Education, Advanced Medical Biochemistry, Medical Students Affairs Council, University of Missouri
• Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, Elected Faculty Member, Lifetime, 2010.

Research description

Research in our laboratories focuses on a number of interrelated topics. In the area of exocrine defense mechanisms, with special emphasis on chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases in man, a sizable effort has been trained on developing a better understanding of mucous glycoproteins as a primary and secondary macromolecular defense response against lung pathogens and irritants. Structural elucidation is yielding significant insight into altered post-translational modifications of the side chain oligosaccharides from these molecules. With structural elucidation of respiratory mucins via classical chemical methodology and techniques involving lectins, 500 MHZ 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR, and fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB-MS), we have demonstrated significant increases in glycoprotein sulfation and anionicity, that parallel the severity of the respiratory disease and its chronicity. These findings are particularly pronounced in patients with the genetic disorder known as cystic fibrosis.

Ongoing research, with particular emphasis in modified carbohydrates, focuses our analytical capabilities and chemical expertise on the discovery of structure-function relationships, in human and plant health and disease. In-house tools applied include eukaryotic and microbiological cell culture, fluorescence microscopy, polarimetry, optical emission spectrometry (inductively coupled plasma spectrometry, ICP), gas chromatography (GC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and mass spectrometry (MS). Instruments online this year will include ICP, triple quadrupole GC-MS with mass range capabilities up to 1500 amu, electrospray interfaced LC-ion trap MS with Orbitrap accurate mass detection. Combined with the use of campus facilities for x-ray crystallography, NMR, microarrays, laboratory animal medicine, and electron microscopy, our laboratory and collaborators seek to integrate visual, biological, genetic and chemical data in the discovery process for better understanding human health and disease.

Integrated within the Agriculture Experiment Station Chemical Laboratories, we also strive to improve methods available for compositional analysis of foods, feeds, supplements, fertilizers, and biological specimens.

Current projects

• Host glycoprotein alterations and host-pathogen interactions in chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.
• Co-colonization effects on microorganisms in cystic fibrosis airway infection.
• Nutraceuticals.
• Inhibitory effects of amadori compounds and food products in prostate cancer.
• X-ray crystal structural characterization of synthesized amadori compounds.
• Food, feed and biological materials analytical methods development.

Selected publications

Peña-Rodriguez, A., Mawhinney, T.P., Cruz-Suárez, E.L. and Ricque-Marie, D. (2011) Chemical composition of cultivated seaweed Ulva clathrata (Roth) C. Agardh, Journal of Food Chemistry 129:491-498.

He, Y.,  Chen, L., Zhou, Y., Mawhinney, T.P., Chen, B., Kang, B.H., Hauser, B.A. and Chen, S. (2011) Functional Characterization of Arabidopsis Isopropylmalate Dehydrogenases Reveals Their Important Roles in Gametophyte Development. New Phytologist (189)160-175.

Mossine, V.V., Glinsky, V.V. and Mawhinney, T.P. (2010) Antitumor Glycoaminoconjugates Based on the Amadori Rearrangement Products.  In: Maillard Reaction, Interface between Aging, Nutrition and Metabolism. Merlin C. Thomas and Josephine Forges, Eds., Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Mossine, V.V. and Mawhinney, T.P., (2010) 1-Amino-1-deoxy-D-fructose ("Fructosamine") and its Derivatives.  Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dr. Derek Horton, Ed., Academic Press, New York, v. 64:291-402.

Chance, D.L. and Mawhinney, T.P., Assistant Editors (Book, 2010), Chromatography: A Science of Discovery, Wixom, R.L. and Gehrke, C.W.  (Eds, posthumously), ISBN: 978-0-470-28345-5, 448 pages, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

He Y, Mawhinney, T.P., Preuss, M., Schroeder, A., Chen, B., Abraham, L., Jez, J.M., Chen, S. (2009) A redox active isopropylmalate dehydrogenase functions in the biosynthesis of glucosinolates and leucine in Arabidopsis. The Plant Journal. 60:679-690.

Glinsky, V.V., Kiriakova, G., Glinskii, O.V., Mossine, V.V., Mawhinney, T.P., Turk, J.R., Glinskii, A.B., Huxley, V.H., Price, J.E., and Glinsky, G.V. (2009) Synthetic galectin-3 inhibitor increases metastatic cancer cell sensitivity to taxol-induced apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Neoplasia, 11: 901-909.

Mossine, V.V., Barnes, C.L., Chance, D.L. and Mawhinney, T.P. (2009) Stabilization of the acyclic tautomer in reducing carbohydrates. Angewandte Chemie. 121, 5517-5520. Supplemental information at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.200902123

O’Keefe, S.J., Ou. J, Aufreiter, S, O’Connor, D., Sharma, Su, Sepulveda, J., Mawhinney, T.P. (2009) The nutritional role of the microbiota in populations with a high and low risk of colon cancer. The Journal of Nutrition. 139(11):2044-2048.

Mossine, V. V., Barnes, C. L., and Mawhinney, T.P. Disordered hydrogen bonding in N-(1-deoxy-beta-d-fructopyranos-1-yl)-N-allylaniline. Carbohydrate Research 344, 948-951(2009).

Reilly, T. J., Chance, D. L., Calcutt, M. J., Tanner, J. J., Felts, R. L., Waller, S. C., Henzl, M. T., Mawhinney, T.P., Ganjam, I. K., and Fales, W. H. (2009) Characterization of a unique class c acid phosphatase of Clostridium perfringens. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75(11),3745-3754

Mossine, V.V., Chopra, P., and Mawhinney, T.P. (2008) Interaction of tomato lycopene and ketosamine against rat prostate tumorigenesis. Cancer Research 68, 4384-4391.

Mossine, V.V. and Mawhinney, T.P. (2007).Nα-(1-Deoxy-D-fructos-1-yl)-L-histidine ("D-Fructose-L-histidine"): a Potent Copper Chelator from Tomato Powder. J. Agric. Food Chem., 55:10373-10381.

Johnson, K.D., Glinskii, O.V., Mossine, V.V., Turk, J.R., Mawhinney, T.P., Anthony, D.C., Henry, C.J., Huxley, V.H., Glinsky, G.V., Pienta, K.J.; Raz, A. and Glinsky, V.V. (2007) Galectin-3 as a potential therapeutic target in tumors arising from malignant endothelia. Neoplasia, 9(8), 662-670.

Mahmoud, A.A., Natarajan, S.S., Bennett, J.O., Mawhinney, T.P.; Wiebold, W.J. and Krishnan, H.B. (2006) Effect of six decades of selective breeding on soybean protein composition and quality: A biochemical and molecular analysis. J. Agric. Food Chem. 54(11):3916-3922.

Mawhinney, T.P. and Chance, D.L. Structural analysis of sulfated oligosaccharides possessing (α1-2)-fucosyl residues derived from cystic fibrosis tracheobronchial mucous glycoproteins (2005), in Current Advances in Carbohydrate Research, S.G. Pandalai, Ed., TRN, Kerala, 2:67-92.

Mawhinney, T.P., Chance, D.L., Waters, J.K., Mossine, V.V., He, S.H., and Cassity, N.A. (2003) Characterization of blood group antigen-containing oligosaccharides isolated from human respiratory mucous glycoproteins, in Current Advances in Carbohydrate Research, S.G. Pandalai, Ed., TRN, Kerala, 1:1-25.