http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ one month, one protein en-us spotlight@isb-sib.ch 2012-01-31T10:59:45+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt135.shtml Someone once told me that they had spread grease all over the drainpipe that crawled up the front of their house, to prevent cats from climbing up it. It’s a very simple and pretty harmless way of keeping the enemy away. It’s hardly surprising, then, that Nature thought up just the same trick millions of years ago. Many higher plants’ stems – and also sometimes their leaves – are covered with a whitish surface, which is slightly greasy to the touch. Botanists have known for a long time that wax in plants has many roles and that the powdery blooms on stems seem to be involved in keeping harmful insects away. The question is: how? But perhaps even just as important a question is: what makes the wax? Because if scientists are able to be on a more intimate level with what produces it, then they will be able to think up insect repellents that are more in keeping with Nature’s ways. Not so long ago, researchers discovered an enzyme which synthesises lupeol, the wax component which forms the greater part of the powdery bloom. 791@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2012-01-31T10:59:45+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt134.shtml I would hate to leave the house without the odd necklace hanging round my neck. But I happen to be fortunate. Millions of other people are not. That is because a lot of jewellery contains the silvery-white metal known as nickel, which can cause disagreeable skin conditions. If nickel were confined to jewellery, things would not be so bad but it is also frequently found in zips, coins and mobile telephones for instance. And who, in our society, can easily dispense with any one of these items? 65 million people in Europe suffer from nickel allergy; that is a large part of the population. Nickel ions are able to creep off a necklace or a coin – following sweat or rubbing for example – and sink through the first layers of skin where they will trigger off an immune response resulting in dermatitis. But why does it happen in some people and not in others? The answer seems to reside in a very small region of a protein known as the toll-like receptor 4, or TLR4, which has been shown to be at the heart of nickel allergy. 790@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2011-12-23T11:50:01+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt133.shtml We are reminded regularly of how fragile life is and how easily the subtle balance of our molecular make-up can be shifted and cause devastating effects. Deafness is one. Deafness can be brought about by a number of incidents. It can occur following an illness or an accident for example. Or it can be congenital. Pendred Syndrome afflicts one out of two thousand human beings and is characterised not only by deafness in both ears but also – though not always – by a swelling in the thyroid gland, otherwise known as goitre. The symptoms of Pendred Syndrome have been known for over a century, but scientists are only just beginning to understand what it is that can leave a human-being deprived of a sense which is so vital. One of the culprits is known as Pendrin – a protein which acts as an ion transporter. 789@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2011-11-22T14:55:55+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt132.shtml When I leave for work every morning, I know exactly where to get my train. This may sound quite absurd but just imagine, for one moment, that you had no memory. You would always be losing your keys. You would never remember where you had left your shoes. And you’d probably fall down the front doorstep daily because you had forgotten there was one. Thanks to our faculty for memorising things, life is far easier for us. We learn how to talk. We learn to avoid awkward situations. We even remember who our children are. On the molecular front, there is a lot going on. It all has to do with neurons and their ability to pass on messages and connect to one another. Unsurprisingly, many proteins are involved in the processes of learning and memory, and much research has been done on them in the past years. There is one protein, however, known as RGS14, which is a bit of a conundrum. Indeed, RGS14 seems to have the intriguing role of suppressing memory... 788@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2011-10-17T11:12:10+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt131.shtml Destruction is sometimes necessary for life to continue. It may sound paradoxical but examples are many. Our body shreds the food we eat to use the parts to feed itself. Certain cells commit suicide when they are of no use anymore. And damaged proteins within our cells are degraded and disposed of before they do any harm. Unsurprisingly, these are processes which involve multiple molecular interactions and are part of complex biochemical pathways – and when something goes wrong, our body is likely to feel the consequences. There is growing evidence that Parkinson’s disease (PD) may well be caused by the accumulation, in certain neurons, of damaged proteins which – under normal circumstances – would have been degraded. Whether it is the accumulation of non-degraded proteins or the subsequent modified turnover of specific proteins which are the cause of PD, no one knows. But scientists have discovered one particular protein, suitably baptised “Parkin”, which seems to be at the heart of the matter. 787@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2011-09-22T12:46:55+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt130.shtml Besides Dr Jekyll, humans cannot become something else after dinner. Bees can. Feed honeybee larvae some royal jelly, and they will grow into a larger, fertile and longer-lasting individual. It is no scoop. Scientists have known about it for over a century now. Nonetheless, it is a very thought-provoking notion for biologists – it means that a living being’s fate can be quite dramatically altered depending on what it feeds upon, very early on in development. The systems we are most acquainted with have a strong genetic component; give us a gene, with an environment, and that will make you into a heavy-built, tall, bald or curly-haired person. But here is some jelly that will shape a bee’s destiny. More specifically, there is a protein in the royal jelly that seems to be able to trigger off a series of metabolic processes in bee larvae, which will gradually turn them into queens. The protein has been baptized royalactin. 786@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2011-08-29T08:20:59+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt129.shtml Talk about the other side of the coin. There is growing evidence that creativity may well go hand in hand with psychosis, in particular schizophrenia. Intuitively, it does not seem so far-fetched a notion. Just think of Salvador Dali, for example. Or Peter Sellers. But mental illness has been around for as long as humans, so why does evolution bother to preserve it? Precisely because of the advantages of a creative mind. Researchers are not suggesting that someone suffering from a mental disorder is inevitably a potential artist. Or vice versa. At least not quite… But what they are slowly demonstrating is that there seems to be a genetic predisposition for creativity and psychosis. And that this predisposition has exactly the same origin for both traits. More specifically, a protein known as neuregulin-1 may have the capacity – given the environment – to tip a mind into mental illness or genius. 785@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2011-06-16T13:50:40+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt128.shtml It can take ages to meet the right partner. So much so that plants lost their patience millions of years ago and thought up something else: the art of selfing. Many flowering plants are indeed capable of extensive in-breeding – by way of a rather subtle form of hermaphroditism – to ensure their spread and survival. The common mouse-ear cress, Arabidopsis thaliana, which has become the model plant for botanists, is revealing how many plants are able to perpetuate their species by letting their pollen fertilise their own pistil. Which prompts the question: how does any given plant species avoid self-fertilisation in the first place? The answer, or at least part of it, is: the S locus. The S locus carries two genes whose protein products – SCR and SRK – are directly involved in A.thaliana’s capacity to self-pollinate or not, and may well illustrate the pathway used by many other plants. 784@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2011-05-10T14:08:30+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt127.shtml There are a number of biological molecules which are involved in a bewildering amount of activities. Serotonin is one. First thought to have the sole potential of contracting blood vessels, over the years serotonin has demonstrated that there is more to it than meets its chemistry. Besides its vasoconstrictor properties, it is also believed to be involved in instances as diverse as embryonic development, mood, appetite, nausea, sleep, body temperature, ageing, premature ejaculation, pain, anxiety, aggression, memory, cognition and migraines. And no doubt, as time goes by – as it inevitably does – yet more activities will be added to serotonin’s already impressive panoply. It is hardly surprising, then, that serotonin has been shown to play a part in psychiatric shortcomings such as obsessive compulsive disorder and impulsivity. But serotonin cannot do this by itself; it needs a receptor to which it can bind. A receptor known as the 5-HT receptor. 783@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2011-03-29T11:31:51+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt126.shtml We get on with our day-to-day life largely unaware of the continuous battles that are being led within us. Indeed, it is thanks to unceasing cellular hostilities inside our bodies that we are able to get on with our lives as we do. Unwelcome entities such as viruses, but also tumours, would use our bodies as a playground – spreading havoc in their wake – were it not for a system that Mother Nature has offered every multicellular being, namely an immune system. In particular, natural killer cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes are able to recognise infected cells in the body, into which they inject various molecules that ultimately destroy them. But how is the death sentence relayed? By way of pores. And these pores are formed by proteins known as perforins which assemble into large aggregates to form a barrel-shaped tunnel through which the poison flows from one cell to another. 782@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2011-02-22T17:38:40+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt125.shtml Imagine reading these words and not being able to pronounce them. Or reading them and not being able to grasp their meaning. These are just two of the drawbacks that many children - and adults - suffer from. In fact, we all know of someone who suffers from a reading disability, a common form of dyslexia. And that is because five to ten per cent of the population is afflicted by it. Because of its frequency, much progress has been made to try and understand why some children are simply not able to deal with words the way their classmates are, and yet they lack neither intelligence nor education. In the past years, it has become clear that dyslexia seems to have a hereditary component thus implying that a gene, or a collection of genes, could be at the heart of it. In the recent past, scientists have managed to track down at least one protein, with the appealing name of KIAA0319, which may well have a role in dyslexia and is involved in brain development. 781@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2011-01-25T11:29:17+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt124.shtml Many of us are acquainted with headaches. Brought on by lack of sleep, a lot of alcohol, too many tears, the time of month, or even the time of year, clammy weather, overbearing noise – you name it – headaches are a pretty common ailment many of us put up with on a regular basis. What is more, there are many painkillers on the market which are able to wipe away the symptoms within a matter of minutes. Migraines, however, are another piece of cake. The same environmental factors may trigger off a migraine but the symptoms are far more severe, frequently causing those suffering from one to remain bedridden until the pain has gone. Needless to say, headaches like migraines have no doubt been mankind's lot since our appearance on this planet, but what is responsible for the rhythmic thump inside our heads? There are two theories. One says that it all has to do with blood circulation. The second says that it’s because of our neurons. Recently, scientists discovered a protein, known as TRESK, that seems to be directly involved in causing migraines. TRESK takes part in neuronal communication, thereby supporting the second theory. 780@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2010-12-23T17:19:40+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt123.shtml You need two humans for romantic love. That sounds straightforward enough. But you also need chemistry, as in chemical processes. It is an uncomfortable thought in a society where freewill is all the rage. Yet any of our feelings need a basis on which to work upon. And that is our brain with all its neuronal circuits and neurotransmitters that are being continuously fired from one neuron to another, sending messages of fright, anguish, enthusiasm, sadness, despair, love and surprise to name but a few. So what would be the chemistry at the heart of romantic love? Serotonin. Perhaps… With a notion as ungraspable as love, it is a very tricky business to try and pin it down to the makings of one molecule. Yet that is what a team of scientists tried to do. Their research hypothesis is particularly intriguing: they compared the infatuation we all experience in the early stages of love with a form of obsessive-compulsive behaviour. 778@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2010-11-25T14:00:44+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt122.shtml We give very little thought to the first breath we took as we entered this side of reality, and yet it was one of the most traumatic experiences we have ever been through. So much so, it is probably not such a bad thing that we have no – conscious – recollection of it. Each one of us spent the most part of nine months floating in amniotic fluid inside our mother, with oxygen being pumped into us via the umbilical cord. Once born, the umbilical cord is taken away from us and we have to find another way of providing our body with oxygen. Fast. That’s when the tiny newborn – that we all were – starts using its airways which, up to that point, had been on standby. Something, however, has to boost them into action. Recently, researchers discovered the doings of a protein, known as ‘teashirt homolog 3’, which has shown that it most probably has a direct role in life’s first breath - not in sparking it off but in preparing the grounds to welcome oxygen and deliver it to every part of our body. 777@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2010-10-21T16:59:47+01:00 http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt121.shtml The smallest of things can have drastic consequences. A rash gesture. A reckless statement. A moment’s hesitation. Likewise, the smallest of chemical changes can be the cause of serious afflictions such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis or haemophilia. Noonan syndrome is one such affliction and affects a newborn in one to two thousand. Typically, a Noonan child has a wide space between its eyes, is web-necked and small in stature. Unfortunately, the condition is also associated with congenital heart disease, learning problems, impaired blood clotting as well as many other features whose range and severity vary hugely in patients. Everyday, a child is born with Noonan syndrome, and one of the culprits is the tiniest of modifications which occurs on a protein known as SHOC2. 776@http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/ Article 2010-09-23T13:14:35+01:00