Neuroscience Research Techniques Like cars on busy highways, cellular traffic moves more efficiently when there are multiple routes for messenger RNA (mRNA) to take, according to a new study in PLoS ONE. Scientists used to think that molecules in the cell moved along single tracks in one direction to get where they needed to go. Now, researchers at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University and the University of Cambridge have found mRNA needs to have and makes use of (through the help of motor proteins) flexible, multidirectional routes. A little misdirection seems to be beneficial for the cell but too much may lead to disease. In this recent work, when the researchers removed one of two motor proteins sitting next to each other in a fruit fly oocyte and ready to head in opposite directions, proper mRNA localization, including for those molecules already in transit, was brought to a halt. The researchers suspect that these traffic monitoring and moving mechanisms may be compromised in neurological diseases like Fragile X Syndrome, Alzheimers disease, and multiple sclerosis. Read more: bit.ly/Ihcz5L Journal article: Dynein Associates with oskar mRNPs and Is Required For Their Efficient Net Plus-End Localization in Drosophila Oocytes. PLoS ONE, 2013. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080605 Image credit: epSos.de/Flickr
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 16:02:43 +0000
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