Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in the United States report that using yeast and human cells, they found through recombinant mouse proteins that cells remove misfolded protein aggregates through mitochondria. This is a completely new way, and this finding helps to explain some of the causes of errors in the developmental process of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. The research results were published in the journal Nature on March 1.

In a cell, protein is damaged or wrong fold will lead to the formation of protein clumps or aggregates, often leading to the occurrence of neurodegenerative diseases. Protein aggregation has been thought to be gradually dissolved by the proteasome or lysosomes in the cytoplasm or nucleus.

Now, scientists at Johns Hopkins University have unexpectedly discovered that a large number of protein aggregates are broken down in mitochondria. Yeast cells with human cells have many similar structures, and they also found through yeast experiments that too many misfolded proteins would block and damage mitochondria. This may help to explain why protein aggregation and mitochondrial deterioration are two characteristics of neurodegenerative diseases.

Prof. Rong Li led the study, and she compared this system to a food residue and a garbage disposal machine. Garbage disposal machine is very convenient to use, and it helps to remove food residues; but if the residue is too much, especially the larger solid residue is likely to make the garbage processor block and fail.

Researchers have found that protein aggregation promotes mitochondrial small pore formation, which is usually introduced into the mitochondria into the protein. If these small holes are destroyed due to genetic mutations, then the protein aggregates can't be dissolved.

Biological systems are generally quite tenacious, but there are some fatal weaknesses that can cause prone diseases. Relying on the mitochondrial system to help to clean up the wrong folded protein may be such an example. Young and healthy mitochondria are fully qualified for this task, while older mitochondria or those cells which need to be over-cleaned may be overwhelmed and may harm many other important functions of the cell. Flarebio provides recombinant proteins of good quality including recombinant NPP1 at reasonable prices.