Another activated gene codes for the phospholipase D enzyme, which removes ethanol from membranes.
Not exact matches
While the genetic
code carried in our DNA provides instructions for cells to manufacture specific proteins, it is a second
code that determines which
genes are in fact
activated in particular cell types.
Of dozens of
genes strongly
activated by injury, seven
coded for proteins that are secreted from cells.
But then Hayashi created a mouse with a mutation in a
gene called PAK, which
codes for an enzyme called p21 -
activated kinase that helps build nerve connections in the brain.
Both
genes code for proteins that function as growth factor receptors, meaning they sit on the surface of cells and, when
activated, can spur the rapid cell growth that is a hallmark of cancer.
The cells then produce more of what the
genes code for: cytokines, which are messenger molecules that circulate in the blood and
activate immune cells.
To devise a potential new therapy, the investigators engineered a population of neural stem cells to express a potent version of a
gene called TRAIL, which
codes for a molecule that
activates cell - death - inducing receptors found only on the surface of cancer cells.
A natural process called nonsense - mediated decay, or NMD, provides cells with the ability to detect errors in the
coded RNA messages, called transcripts, that are copied from DNA when
genes are
activated.
The activity of tyrosine kinases is typically regulated in an auto - inhibitory fashion, but the BCR - Abl fusion
gene codes for a protein that is «always on» or continuously
activated leading to unregulated cell division (i.e. cancer).
For the purpose of their study, the researchers inserted a
gene coding for fluorescent protein in the worms that, when
activated, made them glow brightly under ultraviolet light.
In addition, profiling has been exploited to identify non-
coding RNAs that may represent downstream targets of
activated oncogenic pathways or that are targeting protein
coding genes involved in cancer.