Unexpected Discovery: Brain Enzyme Creates and Secretes Sugar Chains, Regulating Its Own Activity
A chance discovery at Nagoya University in Japan has shown that a well-known brain enzyme has a hidden ability: It builds a sugar chain on itself, becomes secreted from the cell and deactivates, then switches on outside the cell once the chain is removed. The finding, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, overturns a decades-old assumption about how polysialic acid, a sugar chain critical for brain development and function, is produced and shows a new way an enzym
Scientists at Nagoya University have made a surprising discovery about a common brain enzyme. They found that this enzyme can build a sugar chain, known as polysialic acid, onto itself. Following this, the enzyme is secreted from the cell. Once outside the cell, the sugar chain is removed, which then reactivates the enzyme. This process overturns decades of assumptions about how polysialic acid, crucial for brain development, is produced. It reveals a novel mechanism by which enzymes can control their own activity. The findings were published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. This discovery opens new avenues for understanding brain function and enzyme regulation.
This finding fundamentally changes our understanding of how a key molecule for brain development is produced and regulated.
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