Lego Proteins Revealed Self-Assembling Protein Complexes Based on a Single Mutation Could Provide Scaffolding for Nanostructures
Published:31 Aug.2017 Source:Science Daily
When hemoglobin undergoes just one mutation, these protein complexes stick to one another, stacking like Lego blocks to form long, stiff filaments. These filaments, in turn, elongate the red blood cells found in sickle-cell disease. For over 50 years, this has been the only known textbook example in which a mutation causes such filaments to form.
According to Dr. Emmanuel Levy and his group in the Weizmann Institute of Science's Structural Biology Department, Lego-like assemblies should have formed relatively frequently during evolution.