How CCMB protein binding study can advance medicine, agriculture, biotechnology
The researchers used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy combined with advanced computational methods
By Neelambaran A
Hyderabad: Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) research has revealed that shape-shifting proteins perform multiple functions with fewer resources.
Scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have rewritten the understanding of protein function, discovering that some proteins don't rely on fixed structures but change shape to perform different tasks.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, found that two structurally identical plant proteins exhibit different substrate characteristics because one is found to have greater flexibility.
The protein with adaptability character can bind with different varieties of RNA molecules by dynamically rearranging itself without sacrificing stability. Stability is a highly essential parameter in gene regulation.
The researchers used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy combined with advanced computational methods. They detected rare protein conformations comprising just 1% of the total population that switched shapes for short durations. These transformations prove essential for recognizing different RNA forms and help explain how plants manage complex gene control systems with fewer proteins than expected.
"What we have shown is that a protein's ability to change shape, even slightly, can be just as important as its structure," said Dr. Mandar V. Deshmukh, lead author of the study.
"By capturing the fleeting, dynamic states of these proteins, we've shown that their ability to rearrange their structure transiently by flexing and adjusting mid-interaction gives them a functional edge in complex cellular environmentsā, he added.
The research demonstrates how minor changes in a protein's sequence can result in significant functional differences, highlighting the importance of studying both structure and dynamics, particularly for proteins targeted by drugs.
The results also reveal nature's originality in designing a unique approach to grant promiscuity to a few proteins.
This discovery offers a plausible explanation for how plants fine-tune RNA processing without expanding their protein repertoire, especially without adaptive immunity. The findings could lead to advances in medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology by enabling scientists to design more efficient multitasking proteins.
