Protein aggregates save cells during aging
Friday, May 8, 2015 - 06:30
in Biology & Nature
As an organism ages, a gradual loss of cellular protein quality control occurs. This results in the increased production of toxic protein clumps, so-called aggregates. Using a comprehensive approach, researchers in the teams of F.-Ulrich Hartl and Matthias Mann at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich now analysed the changes in protein composition during aging. The results published in the journal Cell show that the quantities of proteins undergo a severe shift. This also sheds new light on the origin and function of protein aggregates. The study also involves the groups of Michele Vendruscolo and Chris Dobson in Cambridge and of Richard Morimoto in Chicago.