Reticulum in Biological News

Little-known protein found to be key player

... showed that cells with extra atlastin had an overdeveloped endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a system of interconnected membrane tubes and chambers that's ... with defective atlastin were sterile and short-lived. "The endoplasmic reticulum is an ever-changing environment," McNew said. "It grows. It retracts. It ...

Visualizing virus replication in three dimensions

... "We now know that viral RNA is replicated in vesicles in the endoplasmic reticulum and is secreted through tiny pores. We were also able to show that ... incorporated into pre-stages of viruses and then penetrate the endoplasmic reticulum a second time. There they are enveloped in a membrane that disguises them ...

Story ideas from the Journal of Lipid Research

... in obese fat cells is a maze-like compartment called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that makes proteins and lipid droplets and senses the amount of ... the scientists conclude. Article: Adipocyte stress: the endoplasmic reticulum and metabolic disease , by Margaret F. Gregor and Gokhan S. Hotamisligil ...

'Deranged calcium signaling' contributes to neurological disorder, UT Southwestern researchers find

... targets with fewer side effects," Dr. Bezprozvanny said. The researchers now are studying whether blocking calcium release from the endoplasmic reticulum also can improve function in mouse models of Huntington's and other neurodegenerative diseases such as spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 and Alzheimer's ...

Hot peppers really do bring the heat

... called SERCA. Normally, muscle contraction initiates following the release of a wave of calcium ions from a compartment called the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR); SERCA then actively pumps the calcium back into the SR (using ATP energy), causing muscle relaxation and renewing the cycle. Capsaicin, ...

Researchers discover cell's 'quality control' mechanism

... Dr. Gregor Jansen at McGill University in Montreal, have discovered the important role played by an enzyme called ERdj5 inside the cell's endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The ER acts as a sort of packaging plant that folds and prepares proteins for distribution inside or outside the cell. But when proteins are ...

Genetics of ALS progression

... The researchers characterized a molecular pathway by which mutated SOD1 contributes to the accumulation of malformed proteins inside the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) compartment of motor neuron cells. Beyond a certain threshold, this ER stress induces cell death. Interestingly, Dr. Ichijos team found that ...

RING finger protein 5 may guide treatment for muscle disease in older adults

... future diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities for this disease. In muscles, proteins are continuously made and broken down by the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a protein factory in the cell. To assure that proteins produced pass quality control, a set of ER-based inspectors identify and remove those ...

Legionnaire's bacterial proteins work together to survive

... found that one protein, DrrA, that turns on a molecular switch, Rab1, and subverts its function. This allows the Legionella to fuse the endoplasmic reticulum and the vacuole, creating a compartment that ensures bacterial survival. They also found a second bacterial protein, LepB, that turns off the Rab1 ...

Botched production of insulin molecule may lead to diabetes

... belt to make insulin. Simultaneously, this blocked the traffic of the normal proinsulin in the same cells. This protein mess in the endoplasmic reticulum directly inhibits insulin production in the beta cells, even including insulin production that comes from the otherwise normal rat proinsulin. The ...

Why don't all moles progress to melanoma?

... or ER. "Our results support the direct role of the endoplasmic reticulum as an important gatekeeper of tumor control," says Soengas, who is an ... published in the October issue of Nature Cell Biology. The endoplasmic reticulum is the cell's protein production factory. The process begins when chains ...

Vaccine-producing 'plant-factories'

... This focus gave rise to finding a new route of traffic between the reticulum and the chloroplast. Up to now it has been argued that the endoplasmic reticulum was connected to other parts of the cell such as the Golgi apparatus and ...

Parkinson's disease mechanism discovered

... proteins between two major cellular organelles -- the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the Golgi apparatus. The endoplasmic reticulum is the site of protein production, and the Golgi apparatus is the cell's ...

Multi-purpose protein regulates new protein synthesis and immune cell development

... involved in the production of new proteins in the cell's endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The process begins with chains of amino acids, which are deposited ... the first indication that a sensor for protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum can also signal the nucleus to regulate gene rearrangements required for B ...

Researchers shed light on mechanism of action used by anti-cancer drug

... largely unknown. In the present work, Grant and his team found that in human leukemia cells, sorafenib induces a process known as endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which results from accumulation of misfolded proteins in the ER. The ER is a subcellular structure which plays a key role in cellular ...

Aspirin discovery may improve cancer treatments

... cellular stress, eIF2Ą is phosphorylated by a group of proteins called stress-activated kinases. One of these is protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK). The research showed that salicylates caused an early increase in the phosphorylation of eIF2Ą in normal mouse cells, but not in ...

Cellular traffic backups implicated in skeletal malformations

... body. The pathway affected by the crusher mutation is key to transporting proteins outside of the cell. All proteins are made in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a labyrinthine compartment just outside the cell's nucleus. Proteins are then "packaged" into transport containers called vesicles, which ...

New understanding of parasite cell structures may provide treatments for serious tropical diseases

... The scientists discovered that proteins can move from a glycosome, an important energy-generating organelle in a trypanosome, to the endoplasmic reticulum where GPIs are made, in response to cell stress. The human equivalent of a glycosome is a peroxisome, whose malfunction is associated with ...

Lack of a key enzyme dramatically increases resistance to sepsis

... had similar levels of stress-induced apoptosis or programmed cell death. While caspase-12 was previously thought to be a key mediator of endoplasmic reticulum apoptosis, the new study found that the presence or absence of caspase-12 had no effect on apoptotic sensitivity whatsoever. Others authors of the ...

Viral protein influences key cell-signaling pathway

... Subsequent research led by Lairmore showed that the p12 protein travels to the network of membranes within the cell known as the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER). Among other things, the RER helps regulate the amount of calcium in the cell. The investigators found that the p12 protein allows calcium to ...

Researchers Uncover Key Step In Manufacture of Memory Protein

... is made inside the endoplasmic reticulum, a convoluted network of tubes and channels inside the cell. The proBDNF winds through the endoplasmic reticulum until it reaches another structure within the cell, the golgi apparatus. There, the proBDNF binds to CPE, which protrudes from special rafts of ...