Hormones Shown to Exert Control on the Genome
By Biotechdaily staff writers
Posted on 21 Oct 2002
Researchers have found that hormones are able to influence protein synthesis by binding to specific receptors, which then locate the appropriate genes and recruit a specific set of molecules that activate splicing factors governing the portions of the gene to be included in the messenger RNA. The findings were published in the October 11, 2002, issue of Science.Posted on 21 Oct 2002
The ability of a single gene to produce different kinds of messenger RNA, which then produce several different proteins, is termed "alternative splicing”. "This explains how 30,000 human genes can result in more than 100,000 proteins,” said senior author Dr. Bert O'Malley, chairman of cellular and molecular biology at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX, USA).
"It points out the tremendous power of hormones,” said Dr. O'Malley. "Maybe when hormones do bad or good, it is not because they make too much or too little of a protein but because they make the wrong kind of protein. This could relate to anything from cardiovascular disease to cancer.”
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Baylor College of Medicine