In: Biology
Propose an experiment for localizing a protein (of your choice) to an alternative cellular compartment. Then, speculate what characteristics/symptoms this would create on a cellular, tissue/organ, and organismal level.
Transport of proteins to different
cellular compartments is mediated by the secretory pathway
depending upon the nature of the sequence tag. Different cell
organelles exhibit a characteristic organellar localization signal
peptide sequence (tag) which can be located at the N' or C'
termini.
Examples:
ER retention signal = KDEL
Peroxisome localization signal = S-K-L
Nuclear localization signal = PPKKKRKV
If we want to mislocalize a specific
protein to another cell organelle, we can do it so by removing its
native tag and adding other organellar specific tags.
Example: p53 is tumor suppressor gene. It is a transcription
factor. So, it is localized in the nucleus. If we remove nuclear
localization signal from it and add peroxisomal localization
signal, it gets localized to the peroxisome.
Since p53 is sequestered from the nucleus where it has the
function, the cell experiences drastic effects.
Since it is a tumor suppressor gene,
The cell undergoes continuous cell division.
The tissue becomes cancerous
The organism eventually dies due to metastasis.