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| Name |
Borst, P. |
| Location
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The Netherlands Cancer Institute |
| Primary Field
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Cellular and Developmental Biology |
| Secondary Field
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Biochemistry |
 Election Citation
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Borst is known for the discovery of the circular nature of animal mitochondrial DNA, extensive contributions to the molecular genetics of mitochondria, and fundamental research into the genetic basis of surface antigen switching in trypanosomes. |
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Research Interests
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I started in research in 1958 with a thesis on tumor mitochondria and on the side I discovered the malate-aspartate shuttle. As postdoc I switched to RNA phage replication in E coli (with Charles Weissmann) and, after my return to Amsterdam, I combined mitochondria and nucleic acids and discovered the circular mtDNA in vertebrates and in yeast. The mtDNA led me to trypanosomatid kinetoplast DNA and the discovery of the glycosome and eventually to the elucidation of the major mechanism for antigenic variation in African trypanosomes (with George Cross), and to the discovery of DNA base J and its biosynthesis and function. After moving to the cancer institute, I started a project on multidrug resistance (MDR). By making KO mice, we discovered the physiological function of several ABC-transporters thought to be involved in MDR: ABCB4 a phosphatidylcholine transporter, essential for making bile; ABCB1(P-glycoprotein) essential for preventing entry of amphipathic toxins from the gut and into the brain; and ABCC6 mediating the transport of ATP from the liver into the bloodstream. I closed my lab in 2015, but write reviews and remain peripherally involved in some research in my institute and by my former postdocs in projects that they started in my lab. |
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