Theory of How Cells Grow and Move Upended by New Malaria Protein Structure

Conventional wisdom on how cell movement across all species is controlled has been overturned by researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, thus solving the structure of a protein that cuts power to the cell 'motor'. The protein could be a potential drug target for future malaria and anti-cancer treatments. By studying the structure of actin-depolymerising factor 1 (ADF1), a key protein involved in controlling the movement of malaria parasites, the researchers have demonstrated that scientists' decades-long understanding of the relationship between protein structure and cell movement is flawed.

Dr Jake Baum and Mr Wilson Wong from the institute's Infection and Immunity division and Dr Jacqui Gulbis from the Structural Biology division, in collaboration with Dr Dave Kovar from the University of Chicago, US, led the research, which appears in today's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Dr Baum said actin-depolymerising factors (ADFs) and their genetic regulators have long been known to be involved in controlling cell movement, including the movement of malaria parasites and movement of cancer cells through the body. Anti-cancer treatments that exploit this knowledge are under development.



Source-Eurekalert