Commander the molecular machine that plays an important role in transportation of proteins to the surface of human cells. It is implicated in several diseases of the human body and has been found by landmark research using AI (artificial intelligence). The research was led by an international team of scientists, published in Cell.
Researchers of the universities of (Bristol and Queensland) in collaboration with the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, gained insights into assembling of commander a composition of 16 individual proteins, molecular machines, and the role of Ritscher-Schinzel syndrome in its mutation in its function. It is a rare disease of intellectual disability and development delay.
“The surface of every human cell is studded with an array of proteins through which they engage with their neighbors and sense their environment. How these proteins reach the cell surface in the right amount and at the right time is fundamental to understanding human development and the process of healthy human aging” explained Professor Pete Cullen, one of the lead authors from the University of Bristol.
The researchers were able to define the formation of the functional machine (how the individual parts of the commander come together) by using a combination of artificial intelligence, biochemical and cell-based experiments. The researchers also understood how the machine acts as one of the cell’s ‘postal work’.
By knowing the structural composition of the Commander complex the researchers are now enabled to understand how disease-causing mutations provoke the malfunctioning of Commander in Ritcher-Schinzel syndrome and understand its involvement in other diseases too. For instance, the viruses like SARS-CoV-2, which results in COVID-19, and (HPV) human papillomavirus which leads to cancer, require the commander complex to infect cells. The complex is also found linked to the transportation of the amyloid protein in Alzheimer’s Disease.
“Excitingly, we now have a blueprint for thinking of ways that we can manipulate commander function to help with these and other diseases associated with defects in the fascinating molecular machine,” said Professor Cullen.
In conclusion, the researchers stated that without advances in AI technologies, findings of the complete structure of the commander complex would not have been possible even in two years.
Check out more: ‘Structure of the endosomal Commander complex linked to Ritscher-Schinzel syndrome’ by Healy, McNally, Butkovic, Chilton, et al. is published in Cell.
Post a Comment