The "On" Gene

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Co-first authors include Wu Xu, PhD (former employee who is currently at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette), and Lawryn Kasper, PhD, Biochemistry. Other authors include Stephanie Lerach and Trushar Jeevan, also of Biochemistry.

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St. Jude investigators have discovered how a single molecular "on switch" triggers gene activity that might cause effects ranging from learning and memory capabilities to glucose production in the liver. The "on switch," a protein called CREB, is a transcription factor - a molecule that binds to a section of DNA near a gene and triggers that gene to make the specific protein for which it codes. CREB activates genes in response to a molecule called cAMP, which acts as a messenger for a variety of stimuli including hormones and nerve-signaling molecules called neurotransmitters. The St. Jude team showed that each gene that responds to CREB chooses which co-factors, or helper molecules, CREB uses to activate that gene. This finding adds an important piece to the puzzle of how cells use CREB to activate specific genes in response to cAMP signals. It also suggests that the current model scientists use to explain how CREB works is too simple, said Paul Brindle, PhD, Biochemistry. Brindle is senior author of a report on this work that appears in the June 20 issue of The EMBO Journal. The rest of the story Medical Research News