Zinc is a metal essential to life – scientists have discovered a protein that helps keep cells alive when zinc levels are low

All organisms, including people, need zinc in their diet. Get a very little of this The primary metal It can weaken growth and cause weak immunity, nervous disorders and cancer. Unfortunately, More than 17 % of the world’s population Exposed to zinc deficiency. The World Health Organization considers this type of Microbial nutrition A pioneering shareholder in disease and death.

After eating a meal, zinc is taken with your body cells. Inside each cell, zinc It is associated with proteins To support their structure and functions. Researchers estimate that up to 10 % of all proteins need to work zinc properly. In this sense, zinc protein is similar to a car zinc without a engine or without nails that combine it together: either you may not work or completely disintegrate.

Despite the importance of zinc for human health, many aspects of how to support cellular processes are not fully understood, including how they are combined into the essential proteins of the cell function in the first place.

like Researchers Those who study How minerals work in biological systems such as the human body, we wanted to understand how zinc is distributed inside the cell. What proteins in the cell get zinc first, especially if there is not enough to wrap? How is zinc reaching these important proteins?

With our colleagues in Skar Laboratory At the Medical Center at Vanderbilt University and Giedroc Laboratory At Indiana University, in 2022 we set The first known molecule To deliver zinc to decisive proteins.

Delivery of zinc to where it needs to go

We started to investigate the cells produced by the cell when zinc levels are low. One family of proteins looked particularly interesting because they look as if they might be possible metallochaperoneProtein that selectively enters minerals, such as zinc and iron, into other proteins. We named this protein Zng1 family.

As it turned out, All vertebrates You have a gene that directs cells to produce Zng1. While Zng1 interacts with many proteins that connect zinc, one in particular, is called protein metap1Keep our attention. It is known that metap1 activates many other essential proteins within the cell. Cells without making Metap proteins cannot survive.

We have agreed Metap1 because it interacts with the Zng1 proteins across species – among them zebra, mice and people. The result indicates that the relationship between these two protein has been preserved for more than 400 million years of development, which means that the role of Zng1 supporting the Metap1 function is important in all living organisms that produce these proteins.

To study the role played by Zng1 in animal health, we are giving coding genes for Zng1 in mice and udder. When animals were deprived without zng1 of zinc, they failed either to grow or width growth defects. Although animals still have small amounts of zinc, they were unable to use zinc properly. This emphasized that the Zng1 helps to make metap1 properly, probably by helping it to link or use zinc.

Using molecular imaging and other methods, we also noticed that the energy -producing mitochondria of the zinc mouse cells without the work of the Zng1 proteins were not working properly. This highlights the importance of Zng1 during zinc deficiency periods by helping the cell in allocating levels of tracking this basic metal for mitochondria and maintaining cellular energy production in the end.

Zng1 may carry zinc deficiency key

We believe that this research is just the first step to better understand how to maintain zinc health and a cellular function when zinc levels are low.

We assume that the Zng1 supports the function of the additional proteins based on zinc in the cell. In this way, the gatekeeper zng1 that distributes zinc on a network of essential proteins, which ultimately allows the organism to survive even if the dietary zinc is limited.

This research paves the way to understand how cells use zinc during malnutrition or zinc deficiency periods. More research on the proteins that Zng1 gives a preference of zinc when there is not enough available in identifying the most important cellular processes to maintain life when zinc is limited. This, in turn, can help combat the negative health consequences of zinc deficiency.

This article has been republished from ConversationAn independent, non -profit news organization brings you facts and trusted analysis to help you understand our complex world. Written by: Andy Weissand Vanderbilt University and Ketlin Murdochand Vanderbilt University

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Andy Weiss is receiving funding from the American Heart Association’s fellowship after the doctorate and national health institutes T32 and F32.

Caitlin Murdoch receives funding from the National Health Institutes T32 and F32