New protein cleanup factors found to control bacterial growth
Sunday, October 11, 2015 - 13:30
in Biology & Nature
Biochemists have long known that crucial cell processes depend on a highly regulated cleanup system known as proteolysis, where specialized proteins called proteases degrade damaged or no-longer-needed proteins. They must destroy specific targets without damaging other proteins, but how this orderly destruction works is unknown in many cases. Now researchers report finding how an essential bacterial protease controls cell growth and division.