Rsp5/Nedd4 clears cells of heat-damaged proteins

DNA Distortion and Damage
Cells are regularly exposed to mutagens—factors in the environment that can damage DNA and generate mutations. UV radiation is one of the most common mutagens and is estimated to introduce a significant number of changes in DNA. These include bends or kinks in the structure, which can block DNA replication or transcription. If these errors are not fixed, the damage can cause mutations, which in turn can result in cancer or disease depending on which sequences are...

Overview

Positive regulators allow a cell to advance through cell cycle checkpoints. Negative regulators have an equally important role as they terminate a cell’s progression through the cell cycle—or pause it—until the cell meets specific criteria.

In response to DNA damage, cells can pause the cell cycle to assess and repair the breaks. However, the cell must check the DNA at certain critical stages during the cell cycle. If the cell cycle pauses before DNA replication, the cells will contain twice the amount of DNA. On the other hand, if cells arrest after DNA replication but before mitosis, they will contain four times the normal amount of DNA. With a host of specialized proteins at their disposal,cells must use the right protein at...

Inositol-requiring kinase one or IRE1 is the most conserved eukaryotic unfolded protein response (UPR) receptor. It is a type I transmembrane protein kinase receptor with a distinctive site-specific RNase activity. As the binding mechanics of the misfolded proteins with the N-terminal domain of IRE-1 are unclear, three binding models — direct, indirect, and allosteric -- are proposed for receptor activation. Nevertheless, it is known that once a misfolded protein associates with IRE1, it...