Challenging conventional wisdom: cellular processes can be mediated by nonstructural proteins

So simple attraction between opposite sexes is the key to tight genetic bonding, an interaction so strong that they came up with the idea of ​​using glue to hold everything together

In a new study published in the journal Nature Chemistry, Dr Davide Mercadante from the University of Auckland and a team of scientists from Switzerland, Iceland and the United States investigated how tightly preserved these genes are? boost gene expression?

"We challenged the existing concept that nonstructural proteins could explain the plasticity and dynamic world of genes," said Dr.

"By moving fast, it's impossible for us to get a detailed picture of how disordered proteins form, we have to move our target from their structure to understand their dynamics

The researchers first labeled histones and DNA with fluorescent dyes that responded to molecular dynamics, and then visualized the molecules through a microscope

Molecular simulations can provide the finest details and are then tightly coupled to experiments and instructed to provide reliable "snapshots" of the molecules under study, providing clues as to how tight interactions can also dynamically unravel genes functionally

A strongly negatively charged nonstructural protein that interacts with linker histones is prothymosin-alpha

In experiments, prothymosin-alpha invades the histone-DNA complex, forming a three-way complex before removing histones

"This has huge implications, strong but obscure molecular associations that subtly regulate gene pathways, which have profound implications for the biological world and how we envision protein activity," Dr.

"Our work reinforces the notion that cellular processes can be mediated by nonstructural proteins, challenging the historical view that function must be conveyed by specific protein structures

Journal Reference :

1. Pétur O.