Staying in contact
Yesterday was a tough day so I was to tired for this so here's your delayed Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka "for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors".
Robert Lefkowitz at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Durham, North Carolina, and Brian Kobilka at Stanford University in California were recognised for their work on G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Receptors are protein complexes sticking out of cells that molecules outside the cells attach to and this causes receptors to start a signalling cascade that lets the cell respond to the outside stimuli. One of the most important class of receptors are G-protein coupled receptors (you probably don't want to know on how many of my exams they appeared). The G in this case is guanosine triphosphate - one of the triphosphate nucleotides. A pool of each nucleotide exist in the cell and, besides being used for DNA synthesis and repair, the highly energy phosphate bonds are used for various cell functions. ATP is cell main energy storing molecule. GTP and the forms it can change to are used mostly in signalling.
In most cases, the protein binds GTP and when something activates the receptor, by binding to it, it results in GTP being hydrolysed to guanosine diphosphate (GDP). The released energy is used to change conformation and then start series of reactions that change cell metabolism. The multitude of changes and complexity of signalling pathways means that this is the basis that makes all life work. It's cell talking, eating, breathing - their (our) whole life is based on the receptor signalling.
This is a very deserved Nobel and I'm happy for both of them. However, it's also made me feel weird because I now work very close to one of the laureates and watching him walk those familiar corridors gave strange feel of disconnection. Somehow it made the whole thing seem unreal. I don't know why. It should be opposite, right?
In today's news - Nobel Prize for Literature went to Chinese author Mo Yan.
Robert Lefkowitz at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Durham, North Carolina, and Brian Kobilka at Stanford University in California were recognised for their work on G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Receptors are protein complexes sticking out of cells that molecules outside the cells attach to and this causes receptors to start a signalling cascade that lets the cell respond to the outside stimuli. One of the most important class of receptors are G-protein coupled receptors (you probably don't want to know on how many of my exams they appeared). The G in this case is guanosine triphosphate - one of the triphosphate nucleotides. A pool of each nucleotide exist in the cell and, besides being used for DNA synthesis and repair, the highly energy phosphate bonds are used for various cell functions. ATP is cell main energy storing molecule. GTP and the forms it can change to are used mostly in signalling.
In most cases, the protein binds GTP and when something activates the receptor, by binding to it, it results in GTP being hydrolysed to guanosine diphosphate (GDP). The released energy is used to change conformation and then start series of reactions that change cell metabolism. The multitude of changes and complexity of signalling pathways means that this is the basis that makes all life work. It's cell talking, eating, breathing - their (our) whole life is based on the receptor signalling.
This is a very deserved Nobel and I'm happy for both of them. However, it's also made me feel weird because I now work very close to one of the laureates and watching him walk those familiar corridors gave strange feel of disconnection. Somehow it made the whole thing seem unreal. I don't know why. It should be opposite, right?
In today's news - Nobel Prize for Literature went to Chinese author Mo Yan.