Defects in IRE1 Enhance Cell Death and Fail to Degrade MRNAs Encoding Secretory Pathway Proteins in the Arabidopsis Unfolded Protein Response
The unfolded protein response is the body’s way to deal with misshaped proteins. Typically they are signaled to be reshaped or edited, in a similar mechanism to DNA when it creates a wrong base-pair. There are cofactors send to reshape the proteins, and if there comes a point where the protein is beyond saving, it will be programmed to undergo cell death.
According to the article, the IRE1 protein is one that catalyzes mRNA splicing of transcription factors as a way to induce the UPR. Essentially, IRE1 leads to UPR, and any errors with IRE1 should prevent this induced UPR. Data supported that IRE1 was involved in splicing bZIP60 mRNA, however the article’s data supports the idea that IRE1 mutants promoted cell death. This effect was not seen in mammals or bacterial cells, which have been previously researched. This increase in cell death is instead seen in the plant Arabidopsis. This suggests that IRE1 may have another function since it wouldn’t make sense that a defective protein had enhanced function.
The source is extremely well rounded noting the contradicting data found in literature, yet presenting the findings in an inconclusive way. The authors admit lack of knowledge and understanding, and implored the world to continue to research this mechanism to see how defective IRE1 could lead to an increase in cell death. Protein mutations could lead to an increased or decreased cell function, however the experiment notes that the IRE1 paralogs studied were just “defective” making this find all the more interesting.
Mishiba, K.-I., et al. “Defects in IRE1 Enhance Cell Death and Fail to Degrade MRNAs Encoding Secretory Pathway Proteins in the Arabidopsis Unfolded Protein Response.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 110, no. 14, 2013, pp. 5713–5718., doi:10.1073/pnas.1219047110.
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