Monday, February 2, 2015
Who Proof Reads Our Amino Acids ?
In an article released by science daily researchers at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and MIT have found out that there is a sort of role reversal in terms of what we would expect to be the proof reading structure. The building blocks of our amino acids are tRNA they work together with other cellular structures to make sure that all our amino acids are in proper order. So naturally we would think that our tRNA is the molecular structure that is also proof reading our amino acids, but it is just the opposite it is our RNA that is proof reading our amino acids. When an amino acid is done forming the tRNA puts a code CCA at the end, but if it is mutated it will put two CCA codings. This then makes sure that that amino acid structure is not put anywhere. The team then wanted to find out how does the CCA adding enzyme distinguish between a mutated and normal tRNA. They used X-Ray crystalography to find out that the enzyme it self cannot tell the difference between the two, it is the RNA that goes back and proof reads itself.
This article was very interesting because it tackles an issue that not many of us think about. We know how the amino acid sequence works, but we do not always consider what would happen if something were to go wrong in our working theory. In a study like this it was especially important because if the researchers did not do this we may have just assumed tRNA took care of it because it took care of everything else. As we move further in our research it is always very interesting to see how different advancements will affect our future. This could be the next step in ending genetic mutations.
Primary Article
Secondary Article
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