Source: University of Toronto
Date: September 4, 2009
Summary:
Researchers at the University of Toronto have identified a protein which plays a key role in the development of neurons, which could enhance our understanding of how the brain works and how diseases such as Alzheimer's occur. U of T graduate student John Calarco, working in the labs of Professor Ben Blencowe (Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto) and Professor Mei Zhen (Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital), has identified a protein known as nSR100, which is only found in vertebrate species and which controls a network of "alternative splicing events" that are located in the messages of genes with critical functions in the formation of the nervous system. The findings are published in a paper in the current edition of the journal Cell.
