New mitochondrially-derived peptides show what they can do

Thursday, March 26, 2015 - 13:00 in Biology & Nature

(Phys.org)—There is a whole lot more to the textbook mitochondrial genome then once was thought. A case in point is a multifunctional peptide named humanin that is dual-encoded deep within 16S ribosomal RNA gene in the mtDNA. Pinchas Cohen's lab was one of three labs that simultaneously co-discovered humanin when screening for proteins that may be involved in Alzheimer's, IGF-1 signaling, and apoptosis. Cohen's group just published a report in Cell Metabolism where they described another mitochondrially derived peptide, this time encoded within the 12S RNA-c gene, which has also has some useful properties. A mere 16 amino acids in length, they have demonstrated that this MOTS-c peptide as they call it (mitochondrial open reading frame of RNA-c) has dramatic effects on obesity and insulin resistance.

Read the whole article on Physorg

More from Physorg

Learn more about

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free!

Check out our next project, Biology.Net