Prof. Cheol-Sang Hwang (LIFE) and his team have disco- vered that an amino acid that signals the start of protein syn- thesis, Methio- nine, is also responsible for signaling protein disintegration, as reported on Dec. 20 via Cell, a renowned journal.
His discovery showed that Methionine not only controls the onset of protein synthesis at the N-terminal but also plays a significant role as a decision-maker of the ‘destiny’ of a particular intercellular protein. Specifically, proteins with hydrophobic amino acids sequenced after Methionine break down through ubiquitin-proteasome system. It is predicted that Methionine is clearly involved in the disintegration of approximately 75 thousand types of protein in our cells. As a matter of fact, this is a follow-up study of his ‘N-end rule’ research in 2010, published in Science.
Prof. Hwang’s discovery is believed to be a big leap forward in figuring out appropriate medicine or therapy procedures that can be used to overcome various cancers, infections, auto-immune diseases, degenerative nerve disorders or senescence, providing insight to better understand these illnesses.