Chaperone for 'guardian of the genome'
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - 11:32
in Biology & Nature
The protein p53 plays an essential role in the prevention of cancer by initiating the controlled death of a cell with damaged genes which is in danger to transform into a cancerous cell. The heat shock protein Hsp90, in turn, activates and stabilizes p53. Now scientists have discovered both the site where the two proteins interact and the interaction mechanism.