Role of the StarD7 protein in cellular lipid metabolism
Metabolic diseases have increased to epidemic proportions in industrialized countries, becoming a global health problem with a higher risk of contracting other pathologies and shorter life expectancy. StarD7 is a phosphatidylcholine (PC) transfer protein whose transcript was originally identified in our laboratory. It belongs to the superfamily of START proteins, which are involved in essential functions such as metabolism, transport and intracellular lipid signaling. The precursor isoform, StarD7.I, contains a mitochondrial localization signal that is cleaved in the mitochondria and originates the StarD7.II isoform that is released into the cytosol and partially retained in the mitochondria.
In recent years we have demonstrated the participation of StarD7 in the maintenance of mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum morphology, mitochondrial dynamics, redox balance, differentiation, migration and cell proliferation.
The main interest of our group is to investigate the contribution of StarD7 to the cellular metabolism particularly in the events associated with lipid metabolism and mitochondrial function.
Understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in these processes will allow, in the future, the development of new therapeutic strategies, which is essential to generate an improvement in the life quality of patients.
Since 1993 she leads the Trophoblast Molecular and Cellular Biology Group. She is foundational member of the Latin American Society for Maternal Fetal Interaction and Placenta consortium and was the President of the III-Latin American Symposium on Maternal-Fetal Interaction and Placenta which took place in Los Cocos, Córdoba-Argentina during 2007.
She has supervised many graduate and Ph.D. students, as well as postdocs. She has been a pioneer in molecular biology studies in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells in our Institute. She has expertise in Enzymology, Endocrinology, Microbiology, Molecular and Cellular Biology. She has patented two application procedures one related to the inhibition of aromatase by sesquiterpene lactones and the other to the development of internal control to determine HCV by PCR in human pooled plasma and plasma-derived medicinal products.
She has been Director of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemical Sciences of the National University of Córdoba and vice-director of the CIBICI.
Flores completed her PhD Thesis (2010-2015) entitled «Functional characterization of the StarD7 protein» and a Postdoc with a CONICET Fellowship (2015-2017) both under the direction of Dr. Susana Genti-Raimondi at our Institute. Completing her training, she obtained a Postdoc with FONCyT Fellowship (2017-2019) at the Center for Biological Chemistry Research (CIQUIBIC-CONICET) under the direction of Dr. Marta E. Hallak.
She is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Chemical Sciences in the subject Analytical Biological Chemistry.
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Collaborators and Partners
Collaborators and Partners
Selected Publications
Cruz Del Puerto M, Rojas ML, Racca AC, Kourdova LT, Miranda AL, Panzetta-Dutari GM, Genti-Raimondi S, Flores-Martín J. StarD7 deficiency hinders cell motility through p-ERK1/2/Cx43 reduction. PLOS One 2022 (in press) 10.1371/journal.pone.0279912. ISSN:1932-6203.
Rojas ML, Cruz Del Puerto MM, Flores-Martín J, Racca AC, Kourdova LT, Miranda AL, Panzetta-Dutari GM, Genti-Raimondi S. Role of the lipid transport protein StarD7 in mitochondrial dynamics. BBA-Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids 1866 (2021) 159029. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbalip.2021.159029. ISSN: 1388-1981.
Flores-Martín J, Reyna L, Cruz Del Puerto M, Rojas ML, Panzetta-Dutari GM, Genti-Raimondi S. Hexosamine pathway regulates StarD7 expression in JEG-3 cells. Molecular Biology Reports. 2018;45(6):2593-2600.doi: 10.1007/s11033-018-4428-9. ISSN:0301-4851.
Flores-Martín J, Reyna L, Ridano ME, Panzetta-Dutari GM, Genti-Raimondi S. Suppression of StarD7 promotes endoplasmic reticulum stress and induces ROS production. Free Radical Biology and Medicine 99(2016)286–295. ISSN: 1071-5762.
Flores-Martín J, Rena V, Angeletti S, Panzetta-Dutari G, Genti-Raimondi S. The lipid transfer protein StarD7, Structure, Function, and Regulation. “Special Issue of Phospholipids: Molecular Sciences 2013” del “International Journal of Molecular Sciences”. 2013 14, 6170-6186; ISSN 1422-0067.
Flores-Martín J, Rena V, Márquez S, Panzetta-Dutari G, Genti-Raimondi S. StarD7 knockdown modulates ABCG2 expression, cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation of human choriocarcinoma JEG-3 cells. PLOS ONE 2012,7 (8) e44152. ISSN 1932-6203.
Angeletti S, Sánchez MJ, Chamley L, Genti-Raimondi S, Perillo MA. StarD7 behaves as a fusogenic protein in model and cell membrane bilayers. BBA-BM 2012,1818(3):425-433 ISSN 0005-2736.
Rena V, Flores-Martín J, Angeletti S, Panzetta-Dutari G, Genti-Raimondi S. StarD7 gene expression in trophoblast cells: Contribution of SF-1 and Wnt-β-catenin signalling. Mol Endocrinol. 2011,25(8):1364-75.ISSN 0888-8809.
Angeletti S, Rena V, Nores R, Fretes R, Panzetta-Dutari G, and Genti-Raimondi S. Expression and Localization of StarD7 in trophoblast cells. Placenta, 2008 29:396-404. ISSN 0143-4004.
Durand, S. Angeletti and Genti-Raimondi S.GTT1/StarD7, a novel Phosphatidylcholine Transfer Protein-Like highly expressed in Gestational Trophoblastic Tumor. Cloning and Characterization. S. Placenta,25:37-44, 2004. ISSN 0143-4004.