Academics

Although a single mutation can seem inconsequential, Toshiya Oba and colleagues conducted a study in which the effect of an AD related mutation on a Microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 4 (MARK4) gene revealed that it can drastically worsen neurodegeneration and promote tau protein accumulation. 

Imagine the effect of misplacing a single step in a recipe. The final dish will not taste appetizing, as it originally would. Similarly, a single change of a nucleotide base in the DNA of an organism can drastically change the function of an entire protein. Toshiya Oba and colleagues explore microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 4 (MARK4) with an Alzheimer’s disease (AD) related mutation, ΔG316E317D. They track the enzyme with the mutation and observe the effects that it has on tau accumulation and neurodegeneration. 

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