Feeding RNAs to a molecular shredder: Scientists unravel the structure of a regulatory protein complex in RNA disposal
Much in the same way as we use shredders to destroy documents that are no longer useful or that contain potentially damaging information, cells use molecular machines to degrade unwanted or defective macromolecules. Scientists of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich, Germany, have now decoded the structure of a protein complex (Ski complex) which plays an essential role in the process of degrading ribonucleic acids (RNAs). RNAs are ubiquitous and abundant molecules with multiple functions in the cell, such as allowing the translation of the genomic information into proteins. "The Ski complex we investigated feeds RNA molecules to the degradation machinery," says Felix Halbach, scientist at the MPI of Biochemistry. The study has now been published in the journal Cell.