anciendaze
Senior Member
- Messages
- 1,841
This finding just about knocked me over. It took place at a school of veterinary medicine, so will likely be ignored by human medical researchers until replicated in humans.
Beta and gamma actin are very important in cell biology, and behave differently. These researchers claim the tiny differences in observed amino acid differences are not the reason for the differences in shape of these proteins. If they are right it seems the nucleic acid sequence going into the ribosome is the thing that controls the form of the protein that emerges. Non-coding DNA is transcribed to mRNA which actually controls the process without resulting in any amino acids in the sequence.
One immediate consequence I see is that viral RNA could alter the process without changing host genes. Actin is vital for movement of cells other than muscles, like immune cells.
Is this at all relevant to ME/CFS? Well, it could be. Recall that Baraniuk's study of miRNA in cerebrospinal fluid showed differences in CFS patients and GWI patients compared to sedentary controls in response to exercise.
Beta and gamma actin are very important in cell biology, and behave differently. These researchers claim the tiny differences in observed amino acid differences are not the reason for the differences in shape of these proteins. If they are right it seems the nucleic acid sequence going into the ribosome is the thing that controls the form of the protein that emerges. Non-coding DNA is transcribed to mRNA which actually controls the process without resulting in any amino acids in the sequence.
One immediate consequence I see is that viral RNA could alter the process without changing host genes. Actin is vital for movement of cells other than muscles, like immune cells.
Is this at all relevant to ME/CFS? Well, it could be. Recall that Baraniuk's study of miRNA in cerebrospinal fluid showed differences in CFS patients and GWI patients compared to sedentary controls in response to exercise.