UMD researcher John Orban outlines a bold theory about the relationship between temperature and metamorphic proteins.
UMD researcher John Orban outlines a bold theory about the relationship between temperature and metamorphic proteins.
Metamorphic proteins can be thought of as the “shapeshifters” of human, animal and bacterial cells. Their ability to drastically switch between two different shapes enables them to adapt to changing environments and carry out diverse functions.
Little is known about how metamorphic proteins transform despite their usefulness in living organisms. To help tackle this mystery, a new paper in the “Perspectives” section of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) offers a “bold theory,” said co-author John Orban, a professor in the University of Maryland’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR).
Read more at University of Maryland
Image: Studies of four different metamorphic proteins revealed that cold temperature can induce a transformation from one state to another. In each example, the low temperature (Low T) state is less ordered than the high temperature (high T) state. (Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
