Daniel Tapken
Postdoc
Education
August 2008
Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D. in Natural Sciences) at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
September 2002 to August 2008
Doctoral thesis at the Department of Biochemistry I - Receptor Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
Dissertation: Molecular and functional characterisation of plant glutamate receptors
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Michael Hollmann
July 2002
Diplom-Biochemiker (M.Sc. in Biochemistry) at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
November 2001 to July 2002
Diploma (M.Sc.) thesis at the Department of Biochemistry I - Receptor Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
Thesis: Investigation of glutamate receptors from Arabidopsis thaliana
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Michael Hollmann
October 1997 to July 2002
Studies in Biochemistry at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
Research Interests
Ionotropic glutamate receptors have long been known in animals. These ligand-gated ion channels play a major role in the communication between neurons in the vertebrate brain. Surprisingly, putative glutamate receptor genes were also discovered in an organism lacking a nervous system – the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. These genes encode proteins that resemble animal glutamate receptors in both sequence and predicted structure. Analysis of the completely sequenced Arabidopsis genome led to the identification of twenty different glutamate receptors, two more than in vertebrates.
The function of these plant glutamate receptors occurring in such a great diversity is as yet unclear. Although there is some evidence for an involvement in light signal transduction and in the regulation of sugar and amino acid metabolism, this is mainly indirect. The proposed ion channel function could not be shown for recombinant proteins yet. Therefore, my aim is to isolate glutamate receptor genes from Arabidopsis thaliana, express them in various systems, and analyse their functional properties.
Publications
G. Seebohm, N. Strutz-Seebohm, O.N. Ursu, R. Preisig-Müller, M. Zuzarte, E.V. Hill, M.-C. Kienitz, S. Bendahhou, M. Fauler, D. Tapken, N. Decher, A. Collins, K. Jurkat-Rott, K. Steinmeyer, F. Lehmann-Horn, J. Daut, J.M. Tavaré, L. Pott, W. Bloch, and F. Lang (2012).
Altered stress stimulation of inward rectifier potassium channels in Andersen-Tawil syndrome.
The FASEB Journal 26(2): 513-522.
doi: 10.1096/fj.11-189126
N. Strutz-Seebohm, M. Pusch, S. Wolf, R. Stoll, D. Tapken, K. Gerwert, B. Attali, and G. Seebohm (2011).
Structural basis of slow activation gating in the cardiac IKs channel complex.
Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry 27(5): 443-452.
doi: 10.1159/000329965
Z.-L. Ma-Högemeier, C. Körber, M. Werner, D. Racine, E. Muth-Köhne, D. Tapken, and M. Hollmann (2010).
Oligomerization in the endoplasmic reticulum and intracellular trafficking of kainate receptors are subunit- but not editing-dependent.
Journal of Neurochemistry 113(6): 1403-1415.
doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2009.06559.x
C. Sager, D. Tapken, and M. Hollmann (2010).
The C-terminal domains of TARPs: Unexpectedly versatile domains.
Channels 4(3): 155-158.
doi: 10.4161/chan.4.3.11349
N. Strutz-Seebohm, U. Henrion, K. Steinke, D. Tapken, F. Lang, and G. Seebohm (2009).
Serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinases (SGK) regulate KCNQ1/KCNE potassium channels.
Channels 3(2): 88-90.
doi: 10.4161/chan.3.2.8086
S. Kott, C. Sager, D. Tapken, M. Werner, and M. Hollmann (2009).
Comparative analysis of the pharmacology of GluR1 in complex with TARPs γ2, γ3, γ4, and γ8.
Neuroscience 158(1): 78-88 (Special issue “Protein Trafficking, Targeting, and Interaction at the Glutamate Synapse”).
doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2007.12.047
C. Sager, D. Tapken, S. Kott, and M. Hollmann (2009).
Functional modulation of AMPA receptors by transmembrane AMPA receptor regulatory proteins.
Neuroscience 158(1): 45-54 (Special issue “Protein Trafficking, Targeting, and Interaction at the Glutamate Synapse”).
doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2007.12.046
G. Seebohm, N. Strutz-Seebohm, O.N. Ureche, U. Henrion, R. Baltaev, A.F. Mack, G. Korniychuk, K. Steinke, D. Tapken, A. Pfeufer, S. Kääb, C. Bucci, B. Attali, J. Merot, J.M. Tavare, U.C. Hoppe, M.C. Sanguinetti and F. Lang (2008).
Long QT syndrome-associated mutations in KCNQ1 and KCNE1 subunits disrupt normal endosomal recycling of IKs channels.
Circulation Research 103(12): 1451-1457.
doi: 10.1161/circresaha.108.177360
D. Tapken and M. Hollmann (2008).
Arabidopsis thaliana glutamate receptor ion channel function demonstrated by ion pore transplantation.
Journal of Molecular Biology 383(1): 36-48.
doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2008.06.076
D. Tapken and M. Hollmann (2006).
Homologs of mammalian glutamate receptors in invertebrates and plants.
In: Biological and biophysical aspects of ligand-gated ion channel receptor superfamilies, H. Arias, ed. Research Signpost, Trivandrum, pp. 321-382.
Contact
Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen
Universitetsparken 2
2100 Copenhagen
Denmark
Phone: +45 353 36408
Fax: +45 353 36041
E-mail: dt(at)farma.ku.dk
Building 30, Room 107
