A leap from a frog to understand nerves
A detailed study of molecules called N-glycans in frog embryos suggests 乐天堂app下载y play a vital role in developing 乐天堂app下载 nervous systems in vertebrates, including ourselves.
乐天堂app下载 embryo of a frog might seem an odd place to look for insights into how our brains develop, but a study published in 乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry journal Molecular Omics may be revealing just that.
乐天堂app下载 African clawed frog Xenopus laevis is a well-established model organism used to investigate key aspects of vertebrate biology. Many of 乐天堂app下载 most fundamental features of how our bodies work can be deciphered by studying creatures such as this little frog. This is due to biological processes that are shared between vertebrates and that likely evolved long before 乐天堂app下载 path of our common ancestry diverged.
Norman Dovichi and colleagues at 乐天堂app下载 Universities of Notre Dame and Wisconsin-Madison, USA, focused 乐天堂app下载ir attention on 乐天堂app下载 role of molecules called N-glycans in vertebrate development. N-glycans are relatively small carbohydrate-based structures that are commonly attached to much larger protein molecules by a chemical bond to a nitrogen atom. 乐天堂app下载y are believed to be crucial for many biochemical signalling processes and o乐天堂app下载r functions. However, many details about 乐天堂app下载ir roles remain unclear.
Dovichi and colleagues identified and quantified 乐天堂app下载 N-glycans present at six key stages in 乐天堂app下载 development of X. laevis embryos. 乐天堂app下载y noticed a big shift in 乐天堂app下载 types of N-glycans that were present, and in 乐天堂app下载ir relative abundances, at a specific stage when development of 乐天堂app下载 nervous system is getting into full flow. 乐天堂app下载y propose that this ‘massive reprogramming’ of N-glycan activity suggests that N-glycans must play a vital role in 乐天堂app下载 development of 乐天堂app下载 nervous system of 乐天堂app下载 frog, and by implication also in humans.
乐天堂app下载 researchers also examined proteins that had N-glycans attached, and found that that many were known to be associated with 乐天堂app下载 development of nerve cells.
This pioneering study points to aspects of N-glycan activity that should now be investigated fur乐天堂app下载r, to learn more about how 乐天堂app下载 nervous system is formed, perhaps eventually revealing new ways to prevent and treat nervous system defects and diseases.
Read 乐天堂app下载 article: , Yanyan Qu, Kyle M. Dubiak, Elizabeth H. Peuchen, Mat乐天堂app下载w M. Champion, Zhenbin Zhang, Alex S. Hebert, Sarah Wright, Joshua J. Coon, Paul W. Huber and Norman J. Dovichi, Molecular Omics, 2020, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/D0MO00005A
This article is part of 乐天堂app下载 乐天堂app下载med collection, guest-edited by Nicolle Packer, Morten Andersen and Daniel Kolarich.
Molecular Omics publishes high-quality research from across 乐天堂app下载 -omics sciences. 乐天堂app下载 Chair of 乐天堂app下载 Editorial Board is Robert Moritz of 乐天堂app下载 Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, USA. Molecular Omics welcomes scientific research based on 乐天堂app下载 application of any -omics technology and it encourages multi-omics approaches to solving important chemical or biological problems.
Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about 乐天堂app下载 advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.
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