Taste sensors keep proteins in flies: New role for adult proteins in development
A set of genes that promote the sensation of sweetness are also important for protein management during fly development, according to a new study by Eugenia Piddini of the University of Bristol, UK, and colleagues, published July 21. st in open access journal PLOS Biology . These findings broaden the understanding of key processes in successful development, and demonstrate a link between taste-related genes and impaired protein aggregation. Protein homeostasis, or proteostasis, is a set of processes that maintain cellular proteins in a functional state, and remove damaged proteins that cannot be repaired. Ribosomes are multi-protein molecular machinery that synthesizes proteins, and mutations in the genes encoding ribosomal proteins not only impair protein synthesis but also impair proteostasis, leading to chronic proteotoxic stress. That stress, in turn, has a number of cellular consequences and results in delayed development and other irregularities. To better understand the distu