New Tumor Suppressor Destroys Key Link In Cancer Chain Oct 11, 2009
and attaches molecules known as ubiquitins to the oncoprotein, which targets it for dissolution by the cell's proteasome complex ... KEAP1 is a ubiquitin ligase that attaches to the target protein and works in a complex with another protein, CUL3, that connects the ubiquitins to the bound protein. (Science Daily)
JeffPearlmanPearls Of Wisdom Longtime beat writer Rod Beaton is living a medical nightmare. Oct 10, 2009
In May 2000, Rod was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, but later he learned that what he actually had was Lewy Body Dementia, an incurable form of dementia characterized anatomically by the presence of clumps of alpha-synuclein and ubiquitin protein in neurons, detectable in postmortem brain biopsies. In layman's terms, LBD is a brutal diagnosis that strips its victims of their physical and mental capacities. (SportsIllustrated.CNN -- MLB)
KEAP1 Keeps major cancer-promoting protein at bay Oct 10, 2009
The researchers showed that KEAP1, short for the tongue-twisting Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1, binds to IKK and attaches molecules known as ubiquitins to the oncoprotein, which targets it for dissolution by the cell's proteasome complex ... KEAP1 is a ubiquitin ligase that attaches to the target protein and works in a complex with another protein, CUL3, that connects the ubiquitins to the bound protein. (EurekAlert!)
LifeSensors licenses ubiquitin traps Sep 24, 2009
signed a deal Wednesday for the worldwide, exclusive license for high-affinity ubiquitin traps, research tools developed by Dr. Manuel S. Rodriguez of the proteomics unit of the Cicbiogune, a research center in Spain ... Ubiquitin proteins play key roles in numerous diseases from neurodegeneration to cancer ... Rodriguez s lab has developed what its calls tandem-repeated ubiquitin binding entities to help researchers identify ubiquitin-modified proteins that cannot be detected with current... (Philadelphia Business Journal, PA)
LifeSensors in deal with Nacalai Sep 16, 2009
Under the terms of the deal, Nacalai of San Diego will distribute LifeSensors Ubiquitin Proteasome Pathway research tools and recombinant protein expression technologies in Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The products from LifeSensors of Malvern, Pa. (Philadelphia Business Journal, PA)
When Proteins Change Partners: Competition Between Proteins Maintains Cellular Balance Sep 15, 2009
14, 2009) Dieter Wolf, M.D., and colleagues at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have illuminated how competition between proteins enhances combinatorial diversity during ubiquitination -- the process that marks proteins for destruction ... Using S. pombe fission yeast as a model, the Wolf laboratory uncovered an intricate relationship, in which an array of Fbox proteins alternately attach to and are kicked off of a cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase (CRL1) containing CUL1 and Skp1 ...... (Science Daily)
Researchers identify new, cancer-causing role for protein Aug 28, 2009
Key to Akt activation is ubiquitination by a surprising culprit -- TRAF6 ... "Our novel findings are that Akt undergoes ubiquitination to be activated, and that TRAF6 regulates that process. We've found that TRAF6 is not just involved in the innate immune response, but plays a role in cell growth and carcinogenesis," Lin said ... Ubiquitins are regulatory proteins that work by binding to other proteins. (EurekAlert!)
New Images Capture Cell's Ribosomes At Work Aug 24, 2009
23, 2009) Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have for the first time captured elusive nanoscale movements of ribosomes at work, shedding light on how these cellular factories take in genetic instructions and amino acids to churn out proteins. Ribosomes, which number in the millions in a single human cell, have long been considered the "black boxes" in molecular biology. (Science Daily)
Protein plays unexpected role protecting chromosome tips Aug 14, 2009
Variation in the gene that expresses the middle protein in this model, ubiquitin specific protease 22 (USP22), is part of an 11-gene signature associated with highly metastatic cancers and poor prognosis, the authors note ... USP22 protects proteins by pealing off ubiquitin molecules that attach to the proteins and mark them for destruction by the proteasome complex ... A literature review showed that TRF1 carries a ubiquitin mark that makes it vulnerable to degradation by the proteasome. (EurekAlert!)
Why Low-Calorie Diet Extends Lifespans Jun 28, 2009
"I only knew that WWP-1 was a ubiquitin ligase and that mammalian cells contain three copies, which would make it difficult to study its function.". Ubiquitin ligases work in tandem with so called ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes to attach a chain of ubiquitin molecules to other proteins ... This process, called ubiquitination, flags protein substrates for destruction but can also serve as a regulatory signal. (Science Daily)
Researchers pinpoint a new enemy for tumor-suppressor p53 Jun 27, 2009
The new protein, called Trim24, feeds p53 to a protein-shredding complex known as the proteasome by attaching targeting molecules called ubiquitins to the tumor suppressor, the team reported this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition ... Removing an important binding domain of Trim24 or depleting it completely both led to greatly reduced ubiquitin targeting of p53. (EurekAlert!)
Non-invasive Method For Early, Serological Diagnosis Of Parkinson’s Disease Developed Jun 25, 2009
The major components of this toxic precipitates are two proteins, -synuclein and ubiquitin. Many studies have reported the detection of -synuclein in biological fluids such as cerebrospinal fluid and plasma of PD patients. (Science Daily)
Protein That Suppresses Androgen Receptors Could Improve Prostate Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment May 27, 2009
arrestin2 locks up an androgen receptor by binding to it, then the pair bind to yet another protein, ubiquitin ligase, which tags the receptor as waste and the trio make their way to the cell's garbage dump. "The neat thing about it is arrestin2 inhibits or blunts the androgen receptor by promoting its degradation. So it disappears," Dr. Daaka says. (Science Daily)
Influenza Virus Evades Body's Immune Response Through Newly Discovered Mechanism May 22, 2009
ScienceDaily (May 21, 2009) Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have identified a critical molecular mechanism that allows the influenza virus to evade the body's immune response system. "We have found a mechanism that the influenza virus uses to inhibit the body's immune response that emphasizes the vital role of a certain protein in defending against viruses,"," says Jae Jung, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the... (Science Daily)
USC researchers uncover mechanism that allows influenza virus to evade the body's immune response May 21, 2009
" ### This work was performed in collaboration with Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Ph.D., at Mt. Sinai Medical School and the final doctorate experiments of Michaela Gack, Ph.D., who is the paper's first author and currently a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. Michaela Ulrike Gack, Randy Allen Albrecht, Tomohiko Urano, Kyung-Soo Inn, I-Chueh Huang, Elena Carnero, Michael Farzan, Satoshi Inoue, Jae Ung Jung*, Adolfo Garica-Sastre*. "Influenza A Virus NS1 Targets the Ubiquitin Ligase TRIM25 to... (EurekAlert!)
Common genetic link seen in autism May 13, 2009
One of those areas involved genes that make a product called ubiquitin. Ubiquitin also seems to be important in how brain cells connect, but its key role may involve pruning unneeded or extra connections, he said. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Shilatifard and colleagues clarify the enzymatic activity of factors involved in childhood leukemia May 5, 2009
Through a series of laborious biochemical and genetic screens in yeast and over five years of work, the Shilatifard Lab identified the molecular machinery required for proper H3K4 methylation by COMPASS. This includes the modification of histone H2B by attaching a single ubiquitin a regulatory protein that is very similar from species to species by the Rad6/Bre1 complex in a process called histone crosstalk ... "Indeed, as reported this week in Cell, human Rad6 can functionally replace yeast... (EurekAlert!)
Autism Linked to Genes That Govern How the Brain Is Wired Apr 30, 2009
The second is a set of housekeeping proteins the ubiquitin system that whisk away old brain connections and set the stage for new ones. Harkonarson suggests that problems in this kind of housekeeping or maintenance function could help explain why autistic children, who have normal-looking brains at birth, develop more abnormal wiring by age 2 or 3. (Time.com)
Autism Genes Help Shape Brain Cell Connections Apr 29, 2009
The other gene cluster impacted by copy number variations belongs to the ubiquitin degradation pathway. Ubiquitins are a class of enzymes that eliminate connections among nerve cells, and are involved with processing and degrading neuronal cell-adhesion molecules thus linking the two gene pathways together ... Glessner et al. Autism genome-wide copy number variation reveals ubiquitin and neuronal genes. (Science Daily)
Uncovering Secrets Of Salmonella's Stealth Attack Apr 18, 2009
"In evolutionary terms, this hijacking of cellular machinery to diversify the function of a bacterial protein is mind boggling,'' said Jorge Galan, senior author of the paper and the Lucille P. Markey Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis and Cell Biology and chair of microbial pathogenesis at Yale. Salmonella causes disease when it takes control of cells lining the intestinal track using its own specialized "nano-syringe" called a type III secretion system. Using this structure, Salmonella... (Science Daily)
Gene Helps Protect Tumor Suppressor In Breast Cancer Apr 14, 2009
Recent studies have shown that the PTEN protein is destroyed when it is bound by the enzyme NEDD4-1, which attaches targeting molecules called ubiquitins that mark PTEN for destruction by the ubiquitin proteasome complex. Lin and colleagues showed that Rak saves PTEN from degradation by attaching a phosphate group to the protein, blocking NEDD4-1 from binding to PTEN.. (Science Daily)
A paradigm shift in immune response regulation Mar 20, 2009
Their results show that interaction with a linear ubiquitin chain is crucial for nuclear factor kappa B activation ... Over the past decade, the overall picture of this large puzzle has been gradually pieced together to show that modifications in the cell protein - including the addition of phosphate groups (phosphorylation) or the conjugation of small modifier ubiquitin (ubiquitination) - play a central role in controlling the immune system ... Ivan Dikic have established an international... (EurekAlert!)
Protein Complex Linked To Parkinson Disease Mar 5, 2009
Xiong et al. Parkin, PINK1, and DJ-1 form a ubiquitin E3 ligase complex promoting unfolded protein degradation. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2009; DOI. (Science Daily)
Headway In Understanding Alzheimer's Disease Feb 7, 2009
" However, as Kosik explained, the current project started when he and his team suspected that one of the problems in Alzheimer's disease is to find out why the cell fails to dispose of tau and degrade it. They knew, even before starting the project, that the cell has marked the tau protein in Alzheimer's disease for degradation. There is a marker on the tau protein in the neurofibrillary tangles, which indicates that this is a protein that should go to the trash. The marker is called ubiquitin.... (Science Daily)
