Genome Complexity; Germ cell enzymes (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, July 17, 2015, 19:08 (3418 days ago) @ David Turell

Two important enzymes in germ cell production are now defined. Note how complex the molecules appear to be. Enzymes are generally huge, and here two work together:-"Co-author of the paper, Anne Ephrussi said: "While we've known Oskar's genetic role in development for some time, we've not known the mechanism by which this takes place. Solving the structure has enabled us to start to see how the different parts of the protein function at a molecular level, which could help us to understand more about this stage of development in a wide range of organisms."-"Using X-ray crystallography, carried out in collaboration with the lab of Christoph Müller, the team was able to determine for the first time the structure of Oskar's two domains, called OSK and LOTUS. The OSK domain is found in some insects, including the fruit fly and the mosquito. The LOTUS domain is more widespread, being found in bacteria, plants and animals, including mice and in humans.-"Using experiments with fruit fly eggs, the team saw that Oskar binds to RNA within the cell - specifically three RNAs derived from genes also known to be important to germline development. But when they looked in more detail, they found that it was only the OSK domain that binds to RNA.-"The LOTUS domain - which they expected to bind to RNA - didn't in fact do so. Instead, the team found that LOTUS binds to an enzyme called Vasa helicase, which is also one of the essential initial ingredients of the germ plasm."- Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-oskar-revealed.html#jCp