(Press-News.org) New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Cell Communication and Signaling describes a large set of interactions (interactome) which maps the range of phosphotyrosine (pTyr)-dependent interactions with SH2 domains underlying insulin (Ins), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling pathways.
In the control of cell signaling pathways SH2 domains can be thought of as a master connector and tyrosine kinases the switch. SH2 domains interact with phosphorylated tyrosine containing peptides on receptors and other signaling molecules and couple the kinase to the next protein in the signaling chain.
The human genome contains 111 SH2 domain containing proteins which bind to activated protein tyrosine kinases (PTK). These cell signaling pathways are involved in embryonic development and their mis-regulation is implicated in a wide range of cancers, immunodeficiences and even diabetes.
A panel of 50 SH2 domains was screened for binding against a set of 192 human phosphotyrosine peptides from the FGF and Ins/IGF-1 pathways and found an extensive interactome consisting of over 500 interactions, most of which are novel.
The pool also highlighted the selectivity of individual SH2 domains. Six general classes of SH2 domain specificity were found which demonstrate not only the evolutionary similarities between SH2 domains in the same family of proteins but across families as well. The study also found subtle differences which could potentially control specificity.
Dr Piers Nash, from The University of Chicago, who led this study observed, "Our study of pTyr binding by SH2 domains is a valuable insight into the selectivity that underpins complex signaling networks. Understanding these signaling systems is a vitally important step towards explaining pathologies such as diabetes and cancer, as well as normal physiology and development."
He continued, "Every cell in our body is an immensely powerful computational device capable of integrating millions of factors and responding with remarkable fidelity. What lies beneath this computational power is not static wires, but dynamic interactions that leverage a finite number of genes to generate an almost infinite number of combinatorial interactions between the protein components that are at the heart of cellular signaling. Mapping the immensely complex set of interactions between the parts laid out by the genetic code represents a next frontier for biomedical science. "
###
Media contact
Dr Hilary Glover
Scientific Press Officer, BioMed Central
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3192 2370
Mob: +44 (0) 778 698 1967
Email: hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com
Notes to Editors
1. SRC Homology 2 Domain Binding Sites in Insulin, IGF-1 and FGF receptor mediated signaling networks reveal an extensive potential interactome
Bernard A Liu, Brett W Engelmann, Karl Jablonowski, Katherine Higginbotham, Andrew B Stergachis and Piers D Nash
Cell Communication and Signaling (in press)
Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.
Article citation and URL available on request on the day of publication.
2. Cell Communication and Signaling, the official journal of the Signal Transduction Society, is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal that encompasses all basic and translational aspects of cellular communications and signaling pathways in normal and pathological conditions.
3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector. @BioMedCentral
Charting the SH2 pool
2012-09-14
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Met Office model to better predict extreme winters
2012-09-14
Severe UK winters, like the 'big freeze' of 2009/10, can now be better forecast months in advance using the Met Office's latest model, new research suggests.
A new study, published today, Friday 14 September, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, compares the latest seasonal forecast system to the one previously used and shows that it can better warn the UK of extreme winter weather conditions.
Dubbed the 'high-top' system, it is different from the previous system as it takes into account phenomenon known as sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs), ...
Foraging baboons are picky punters
2012-09-14
In a study published today in The American Naturalist, a group of scientists led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) have used a technique developed to study human consumer choices to investigate what influences a baboon's foraging decisions. The technique, known as discrete choice modelling, has rarely been used before in animal behaviour research. It showed how baboons not only consider many social and non-social factors when making foraging decisions, but also how they change these factors depending on their habitat and their own social traits.
Over a six month ...
Children's intensive care units performing well despite low staffing levels
2012-09-14
Standards of care in children's intensive care units come under scrutiny in a new audit report published today by the University of Leeds and the University of Leicester.
The report, commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership and carried out by the Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet) showed that death rates in children's intensive care units are low and continue to fall. However, there continues to be a higher risk of mortality for children of south Asian origin observed in earlier years.
This national audit also found that only 5 children's ...
Sharing the research on car-sharing
2012-09-14
Montreal, September 13, 2012 – Share and share alike is a concept we all learn as youngsters. Of course, when it comes to something as personal – and expensive – as a car, sharing's not so easy. Due to rising fuel costs hitting hard, increased concerns about the environment and overcrowded cities, car-sharing services like Communauto are becoming a popular way to get around. Can they be more popular still?
Researchers from the Concordia Institute of Information Systems Engineering can answer this question with a resounding "yes." They have piloted a computer model that ...
Do SAT scores help or hurt in decisions about who will do well in college?
2012-09-14
Every year, nervous high school juniors and seniors, clutching #2 pencils and armed with hours of test preparation, sit down and take the SAT. At their most basic, these tests focus on verbal, math, and writing ability, and performance on these tests has been linked to subsequent academic performance. As a result, college admissions teams use SAT scores along with other information, such as high school grades, in choosing their incoming freshman classes.
It is perhaps no surprise, then, that the SAT has been the subject of much scrutiny. Some researchers have asserted ...
Kids with food allergies can fall through the cracks
2012-09-14
CHICAGO --- More can be done to properly manage the care of American children with food allergies, especially when it comes to diagnostic testing and recognizing non-visual symptoms of severe allergic reactions, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.
"Every child with a food allergy should be diagnosed by a physician, have access to life-saving medication such as an epinephrine autoinjector and receive confirmation of the disease through diagnostic testing," said lead author Ruchi Gupta, M.D., an associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg ...
Honestly? Just sign here -- first
2012-09-14
Toronto – Tax collectors and insurance agencies trying to boost honest reporting could improve compliance simply by asking people to sign their forms at the beginning instead of at the end.
That's because attesting to the truthfulness of the information before a form is filled out tends to activate people's moral sense, making it harder for them to fudge their numbers after, says a new paper.
"Based on our previous research we knew that an honour code is useful, but we were wondering how much the location mattered," says Nina Mazar, an assistant professor of marketing ...
NASA sees Sanba become a super typhoon
2012-09-14
Tropical Storm Sanba exploded in intensity between Sept. 12 and 13, becoming a major Category 4 Typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared data that showed a large area of powerful thunderstorms around the center of circulation, dropping heavy rain over the western North Pacific Ocean.
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Super Typhoon Sanba on Sept. 13 at 0447 UTC (12:47 a.m. EDT). The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument captured an infrared image of Sanba and found an eye about 20 nautical miles (23 miles/37 km) wide, surrounded ...
UMass Amherst chemists develop nose-like sensor array to 'smell' cancer diagnoses
2012-09-14
AMHERST, Mass. – In the fight against cancer, knowing the enemy's exact identity is crucial for diagnosis and treatment, especially in metastatic cancers, those that spread between organs and tissues. Now chemists led by Vincent Rotello at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a rapid, sensitive way to detect microscopic levels of many different metastatic cell types in living tissue. Findings appear in the current issue of the journal ACS Nano.
In a pre-clinical non-small-cell lung cancer metastasis model in mice developed by Frank Jirik and colleagues ...
'Smart growth' strategies curb car use, greenhouse gas emissions, SF State study suggests
2012-09-14
A new study finds that smart growth approaches to urban planning could substantially reduce the number of miles that residents drive in a year. The research was published this week in The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy.
Smart growth focuses on the development of compact, walkable cities with houses and jobs located close together. By shortening residents' commutes, this form of urban design aims to cut transportation-related energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. California is already pursuing smart growth in order to meet emissions reductions set by the ...