Posted on 12/01/2005 5:52:49 AM PST by sourcery
A team of scientists at Yale University has completed the first comprehensive map of the proteins and kinase signaling network that controls how cells of higher organisms operate, according to a report this week in the journal Nature.
The study is a breakthrough in understanding mechanisms of how proteins operate in different cell types under the control of master regulator molecules called protein kinases. Although protein kinases are already important targets of cancer drugs including Gleevec and Herceptin, until recently, it has been difficult to identify the proteins regulated by the kinases.
Led by Michael Snyder, Lewis B Cullman Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, these researchers focused on the expression and relationship between proteins of the yeast cell "proteome," or the proteins that are active in a cell.
Protein kinases act as regulator switches and modify their target proteins by adding a phosphate group to them. This process, called "phosphorylation," results in altered activity of the phosphorylated protein. It is estimated that 30% of all proteins are regulated by this process.
Using technology developed in Snyder's laboratory, graduate students Jason Ptacek and Geeta Devgan used proteome microarrays to assay the thousands of different proteins in a yeast cell for targets of the protein kinases. The 82 unique kinases, representing the majority of master regulators in the yeast cell, were tested separately with the microarrays to determine which proteins were modified by each kinase.
From the wealth of information generated by these experiments Snyder's team constructed a complex map of the regulatory networks governing the functions and activities of the kinases in the yeast cell. The map shows several distinct patterns.
"It was a little like having all the pieces of an airplane separated out, and not knowing how those pieces function together to create an airplane and make it fly," said Snyder. "We wanted to know how the tens of thousands of proteins coordinate to carry out complex processes such as growth, cell division and formation of complex cell types such as brain cells and intestinal cells."
Over the past several years, a large volume of information on genes in organisms as diverse as man, mouse, baker's yeast and viruses has been generated. While genomic DNA is the blueprint, the encoded proteins are the products that carry out the complex biological functions of cells. Although scientists can predict from the DNA what proteins are in the proteome of an organism, this study opens the door to seeing how they are coordinated to work together.
"This insight into the regulation and integration of biological networks has broad applications for basic science and clinical research," said Snyder. "Biological networks determine the development and function of organisms from the single-celled yeast to man; aberrations in those networks signal disease."
Biological networks are typically conserved between species, meaning that often the same type of protein carries out the same type of function, whether it is in a yeast cell or a human cell. According to Snyder, these findings in yeast are of immediate use for understanding both human development from the fertilized egg to full grown organism, and for drug discovery targeting human diseases.
Ping
Thanks for posting this.
This might perhaps be better suited for PatrickHenry's science list.
bio expert (hahahahaha) checking in.
Ping appreciated (as always) but I certainly don't qualify in this respect (maybe that's why you included the "quotes"...)
I'm always eager for any real science ping, though - the "real science" threads attract a less nutty crowd than the more politically-driven science threads and make for a welcome (if quieter) diversion.
Protein kinases act as regulator switches and modify their target proteins by adding a phosphate group to them. This process, called "phosphorylation," results in altered activity of the phosphorylated protein. It is estimated that 30% of all proteins are regulated by this process.This is a very important part of the Atkins diet. ;')
Interesting read.
It has great importance for evolution. For example, most of the differences between chimps and humans are in non-coding regions, especially in promoters. Controlling development probably is as important a function as any other in differences between close species. Surely phosphorylation will play a role.
OTOH I don't know what there is to discuss. It's all very much speculative at this point in time. Some of it will prove good and some will fall by the wayside. It's too early.
Informed opinion or flatulence - take your pick.
The last comment refers to me.
With these subjects they have no threads to go to for pre-packaged talking points.
Not a "bio expert" but if you have any old bones laying around...
I gather I got this as a BCC / FYI or something. ;)
Diet is the answer to everything, or so I've been told.
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