by Playfuls Staff |
29th July 2006
U.S. scientists say they have determined the shape of a protein that's linked with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's. [more]
Researchers from North Carolina State University, Duke University and the Mayo Clinic determined the shape of the protein, calbindin-D28K. Understanding a protein's structure allows researchers to learn more about how it functions and interacts with other proteins, which may provide clues to developing drugs to halt the diseases.
"If you don't know the shape of the protein, you can't figure out how it works," said John Cavanagh, professor of molecular and structural biochemistry at North Carolina State. He said it took about five years to characterize the protein's structure because it was initially a challenge to force cells to make enough protein in order to do the requisite studies. Additionally, he said, many parts of the protein are very similar and so are extremely difficult to distinguish from each other.
Other members of the research team were Douglas Kojetin, David Kordys and Richele Thompson of North Carolina State University; Ronald Venters of Duke University; and Rajiv Kumar of the Mayo Clinic.
The study appears in the July issue of the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.
© 2006 UPI
