Genes are encoded in DNA and need to be copied into an intermediate mRNA molecule that contains the instructions to allow synthesis of protein. Almost every mRNA has a repetitive sequence at one end called a poly(A) tail. The length of this tail specifies the amount of time that the mRNA is present in the […]
Insight on Research
Network control principles predict neuron function in the C. elegans connectome
The connectome of an animal is the comprehensive map, or wiring diagram, of all the neural connections in the brain. However, an important challenge is how to make sense of this information. The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, still the only animal for which the entire connectome has been described, illustrates the problem. Although it has […]
Folate and formaldehyde: from vitamin to genotoxin to DNA building block
Cell growth requires the synthesis of molecules, such as nucleotides to make DNA and amino acids to make proteins. One essential building block of these is the one carbon unit. This is produced by the one carbon (1C) cycle, which requires the vitamin folate and the amino acid serine (the main source of the 1C […]
Amino acid homorepeats influence the function and evolution of proteins
Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Just twenty different amino acids are strung together in different orders – like beads – to build all the proteins in living organisms. When a single type of amino acid is found consecutively within a protein, this is known as a homorepeat. Abnormal variation in the length […]
Mechanism for cleaning up leftover proteins
The cells in our body contain numerous molecular machines that carry out nearly all biological processes essential for life. These machines are built from proteins that are often assembled into complex structures. For example ribosomes contain 80 distinct proteins on a scaffold of four different RNAs. The assembly of such structures from so many parts […]
Uncovering the action of a selective holophosphatase inhibitor
Proteins can be reversibly phosphorylated – phosphate groups are added to proteins by the action of kinase enzymes and can be removed by phosphatases. This controls a huge variety of cellular processes and targeting phosphorylation thus offers a board range of therapeutic opportunities. Indeed, kinases have received much attention in pharmaceutical research, yet phosphatases have […]