Study: Chemical Bond Starts Cell Activity
Posted on: Tuesday, 16 January 2007, 15:00 CST
U.S. scientists say the image of a molecular relay race, in which an enzyme passes a protein to another enzyme, has helped solve a biological mystery.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital researchers say their finding explains how a simple chemical link between molecules called a thioester bond acts as a switch to control the handoff of a protein called NEDD8 from one enzyme called E1 to a second enzyme called E2.
When attached to E2, the thioester bond allows E2 to bind to a third enzyme called E3, which then helps E2 hand NEDD8 off to an ultimate target molecule.
Our study shows that this simple switch could control comparable relays in charge of several different biochemical activities that keep cells alive and functioning normally. said Brenda Schulman, associate member of the St. Jude Structural Biology and Genetics and Tumor Cell Biology departments and senior author of the study.
A report on the research appears in the advanced online issue of the journal Nature.
Source: United Press International
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