Researchers shed new light on protein production
EU-funded researchers have provided new insight into how cells regulate the production of proteins. The work, which brought together researchers from Uppsala University and the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, is published in the journal Molecular Cell. Making proteins involves a number of steps. First, a strand of messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid) is made from the section of DNA which codes the protein needed. Then a structure called a ribosome moves along the strand of RNA, reading the genetic code and translating it into a sequence of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Small, non-coding strands of RNA are found in a range of life forms and they mainly act to regulate the production of proteins. These so-called 'antisense RNA' molecules attach themselves to the messenger RNA at the point where the ribosome would normally start reading. As the site is blocked, the ribosome cannot translate the code and the protein is not made. Now the researchers have shown for the first time that antisense RNA can also attach itself to other sections of the messenger RNA and so prevent the ribosome from reading it that way. According to the scientists, if a ribosome finds that its starting point on the messenger RNA is blocked, it will attach itself to an open site further along until the proper site is available again. 'This is binding in stand-by, you might say,' explains Professor Gerhart Wagner of Uppsala University. 'But we can show that antisense RNA competes with the ribosomes to be able to attach to this stand-by site as well. And if they get there first, then protein synthesis is prevented. This is something no one has seen before, and it provides a new picture of the innermost processes of life.'
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