A brain enzyme plays an important role in waking up neural stem cells
Researchers studying an enzyme in fruit fly larvae have found that it plays an important role in waking up brain stem cells from their dormant 'quiescent' state, enabling them to proliferate and generate new neurons. Published in the journal EMBO Reports, the study by Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, could help clarify how some neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and microcephaly occur.
Quiescent neural stem cells in the fruit fly larval brainPr-set7 is an enzyme involved in maintaining genome stability, DNA repair and cell cycle regulation, as well as turning various genes on or off. This protein, which goes by a few different names, has remained largely unchanged as species have evolved. Professor Wang Hongyan, a professor and deputy director at Duke-NUS' Neuroscience and Behavioural Disorders Programme, and her colleagues set out to understand the protein's function during brain development.