Enzymatic Alter-Egos Unmasked
Enzymatic Alter-Egos Unmasked
Some proteins lead double or even quadruple lives. In 1994, researchers discovered the gene responsible for Wiskott Aldrich syndrome, an X-linked genetic disorder in which affected patients generally succumb to infections or cancer. Because of the observed immune dysfunction, the protein, called WASP, was believed to regulate lymphocytes or platelets.1 But, challenging the traditionally held one-protein-one-function notion, subsequent studies found that WASP had several jobs, among them orga