class=”category”> knowledge
Südhof is how many top German scientists went to the U.S., where they hope for better working conditions (Photo: AP). Monday 07 October 2013
Each cell is a huge hub for energy, genetic, messengers and building materials. Errors are not allowed in the flood of deliveries – they often have diseases result. For insights into the highly complex transport system, the Nobel Prize is awarded to a German.
a sorting center of the post, just often more complex: Each cell of an organism must constantly bring to the correct recipient a flood of materials. Energy must be delivered, shipped important proteins are repelled garbage. Error during execution are the cause of various inherited disorders, immunological disorders and metabolic diseases such as diabetes. Randy Schekman, James Rothman and German-born Thomas Südhof have explored how molecules come in small packages, called vesicles, at the right time in the right place – and get it now the Nobel Prize for Medicine
.
“The three winners have solved the mystery of how cells organize their transport system,” explains Juleen Zierath, Chairman of the Nobel Committee in Stockholm. All three scientists have been awarded the Lasker Award: the two U.S. researchers in 2002, Südhof this year. “They all started their research independently,” says Zierath.
just 40 thousandths of a millimeter in diameter
A man consists of ten to one hundred trillion cells that have thousands of different tasks – the work of a kidney cell is hard to compare with the one nerve cell, a sperm cell or a blood cell. In addition, the cells have on average only about 40 thousandths of a millimeter in diameter, but are home to a number of different areas. Often called mitochondria, for example, power plants, factories and efficient protein to the nucleus with the genetic information
It seems inconceivable that the transport of substances in this absurdly complex system works at all – and that too with high precision. Hormones are released and solve specific reactions – vasopressin and oxytocin as the butterflies in the stomach of lovers. Enzymes break down nutrients into usable good appetizers or paralyze poisons. Neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin in the brain to control whether a person gets about certain sensations in ecstasy.
Three researchers who complement each other
Explorers Rothman and Schekman Südhof share this year’s honor . (photo: imago stock & people)
Schekman made with yeast as a model organism from different genes, without which the transport ends in cells in chaos. “This is something fundamental,” says Roger Goody, President of the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. “We would not understand without this discovery, such as complex cells such as human work.”
Rothman explained to mammalian cells that small membrane vesicles transporting various molecules. He showed that these vesicles fuse with the membrane of their target. He also found out that there are special proteins on the vesicles that fit only to certain counterparts in the target membrane – like the two sides of a zipper. Only at these points give the vesicles release their cargo. As a result, it turned out that some of the tracked Schekman genes contained blueprints for such markings on the membranes.
Südhof explored how nerve cells communicate with each other. Also, the chemical messengers in the brain, the neurotransmitters are passed through vesicles – that discovered by Rothman and Schekman mechanism. The native German identified a number of proteins, the time the process is highly precise. “The work of the three laureates have complementary,” Franz-Ulrich Hartl, says director at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried.
Basic research for cancer treatments
The discovery was a long process, explains Jan Andersson, member of the Nobel Committee in Stockholm. “It began in 1980 and ended somewhere around 2002 – these were over 20 years of research.” Disorders of membrane transport are symptoms or causes serious diseases such as cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and cancer.
Several therapeutic approaches are based on the work of researchers trio. There are attempts to control HIV infection with substances that prevent specific membrane fusions. In diabetes, the control of insulin secretion is a possible target.
More about
cancer physicians explore the central role of cell-cell communication in tumor growth: Many tumor cells release vesicles that transport proteins and genetic material to other cells. In addition, work is underway to use nanoparticles as artificial vesicles targeted to release highly toxic cancer drugs to the tumor only. That could make chemotherapy much better tolerated.
Given the immense importance of their research is clear: Quite surprisingly, the Nobel Prize in any of the three researchers has come
.
Source: n-tv.de
‘); recommendations display‘);
No comments:
Post a Comment