Musashi is a family of RNA- binding proteins that are expressed in the nervous system. Musashi (Msi) proteins are fundamental in progenitor cells. Musashi 1 is a known marker or neural stem cells in humans, and plays an important role in differentiation and in maintaining the stem cell state. Msi1 has also been seen in intestinal epithelial cells, whose stem cells are not well known or understood by scientists. The musashi gene also helps regulate the asymmetric division of sensory organ precursor cells (SOPs). Musashi helps regulate gene expression and translation; it inhibits the translation of the TTK69 protein in certain neural precursor cells. Experiments have shown that the overexpression of Msi1 will lead to proliferation of stem cells, indicating that the protein plays an important role in maintaining and regulating stem cells, as well as serving as a marker by which scientists can identify and isolate neural progenitor cells and stem cells. Msi1 has been observed mainly in the periventricular ependymal cells and astrocytes. These cells are significant in that they maintain a stem cell state while in the adult brain. There is another musashi protein, musashi 2, that appears to have similar functions to those performed by musashi1. Musashi' role in regulating the translation of specific mRNA could be vastly important to our understanding of the nervous system and of stem cells.
Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/science/article/pii/S001448270500090X
No comments:
Post a Comment