Few questions to tackle... - (Jun/27/2007 )

I have posted two questions, and some of you could guide or give me few tips on how to tackle this question..Please give me direction as where should I or how should I start answering these question...


Question1: You have isolated a cell cycle regulatory protein (CCRP) from a human cell line. This protein plays a pivotal role in aging. You are interested in identifying other proteins in the cell that interact with this protein, so that you have more control points. Describe the approach that you will use in identifying the other proteins that interact with CCRP.

Question 2: You have successfully isolated a gene and you suspect that its protein product regulates the level of protein phosphorylation (a post-translation modification of many proteins involved in signaling pathways) of a known T cell transcription factor termed NFAT. Now you need to show that the gene actually influences NFAT phosphorylation. What are the different ways by which you can do the functional characterization of the newly isolated gene that you suspect plays this integral role in T cells?

Thank you in advance...

Hello Mallu_outlaw,

For question 1... how do you isolate proteins? Also, different proteins are activated during different stages of the cell cycle. If there are multiple proteins working as a complex, there's gotta be a way to find out how many and which proteins are present at different STAGES of the cell cycle, right? THink about how you would isolate these different proteins, and the different types of protein analysis techniques you can utilize to characterize these different protein complex components.

As for your question 2, characterizing that gene... What happens to certain genes when people have diseases caused by genetic mutations? The genes are mutated, right? So since you know that DNA --> RNA --> Protein, what happens to the resulting protein (if any) if a gene is mutated? Since I'm not allowed to give you any direct answers, hopefully the questions I posed will get the ball rolling. If you need anymore help with this I can give you a few more hints. GOod luck!!

Dubs

Thank you Dubs

Def help me stir in the right direction. I just need 1st push and starting point. Thank you once again!