Cell 'junk processor' proteases can affect neurodevelopment. Hopkins frontier son- medicine.

Johns Hopkins researchers have found that proteases, which are cell "waste disposal plants," may not only handle cell waste, but also act on certain proteins to affect neurodevelopment.
previous research has found that specific proteases on the membranes of brain cells may play a role in transmitting nerve signals.
in the study, Dr. Seth Margolis, associate professor of biochemistry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and his team aimed at finding specific proteins targeted by these specific proteases.
new study published July 5 in the journal Molecular Cell .published in the end of the paper.
researchers found that the membrane-binding protease body received only specific proteins -- a far cry from what was previously recognized as the "waste disposal" function.
these proteases target a group of "incomplete" proteins that are still in synthesis, which is particularly different from the traditional degradation of "complete" full-length proteins.
these incomplete proteins include Fos and Npas4, which are important media that regulate neuronal activity.
"We have observed a link between protein synthesis and protein degradation, suggesting that complete proteins and degraded proteins play separate roles in cells.
," said Dr. Kapil Ramachandran, a junior researcher at the Harvard Medical School Fellows Association.
Ramachandran likens the function of proteases to shredders: "As far as we know about proteases in the past, they find a piece of paper in the cell and then crush it.
For membrane-binding proteases, what needs to be crushed is 'paper in production'.
" the researchers are hopeful that the proteins found to have a specific effect on proteases will open new doors to the study of neuronal function -- such as intercellular communication, structural changes that affect memory formation, and so on."
also included Jack M. Fu of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, Thomas B. Schaffer, Chan Hyun Na and Michael Delannoy of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
supported by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Proteomic discovery center (S10OD021844), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH102364), the Training Fund (T32 GM0078445) and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Scholarship (DGE-1232825).
COI: The author declares that there is no competitive interest.
"Hopkins Medical Frontiers" is a medical/biomedical paper guide column co-launched by the Institute of Research and Johns Medicine to describe the world's leading medical institutions in hot-spot areas such as cancer therapy, cancer diagnosis, diabetes, heart disease, and Parkinson's disease.
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