Identification of protein that regulates energy supply to ‘developmental nerve cells’
Input: 2022-01-26 23:26:30
Reporter Song Hyeon-soo songh@busan.com
UNIST reveals mitochondrial regulation of ‘mtIF3’ protein with a fluorescent sensor
(From left) Researcher Soyeon Lee (first author), Professor Jaeik Kim, and Researcher Donggeun Park (first author). Provided by UNIST
According to UNIST, a research team led by Professor Jae-ik Kim and Jeong-hoon Lim of the Department of Life Sciences discovered that the ‘mtIF3’ protein is involved in the development of neurons (neurons) in the brain.
This protein has been shown to play a role in facilitating the enormous supply of energy required for the development of nerve cell growth cones by regulating mitochondrial translation.
Mitochondria are organelles in cells that produce energy, and the process of synthesizing self-encoded proteins in mitochondria is called mitochondrial translation.
Proteins translated in the mitochondria are used in the energy synthesis process.
The research team has proven this fact with the self-developed fluorescence sensor technology.
It is a sensor that works on the principle that fluorescence is emitted when two substances necessary for mitochondrial translation meet. As translation is activated, the fluorescence intensity increases.
As a result of the experiment, when mtIF3 protein was synthesized at the nerve cell terminal, the intensity of light detected by the fluorescent sensor increased, and inhibition of this protein inhibited neuronal development.
This is evidence that mtIF3 protein activates mitochondrial translation and aids in neuronal development, the team explained.
An official from the research team said, “This study was able to discover the molecular mechanism that immediately regulates mitochondria at the nerve cell terminal. “This technique might be applied to various studies to find out whether it regulates
The research results were published on the 7th in ‘BMC Biology’, a major academic journal in the field of life sciences.
The research was carried out with support from the National Research Foundation’s Leader Research, Mid-level Research, and Basic Research Lab support projects and research support from the Seo Kyung-bae Science Foundation.
Reporter Song Hyeon-soo songh@busan.com