Neuroscientists Discover New Protein Structure

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 Neurotransmitters and proteins are essential for our brain. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark succeeded in crystalizing and mapping a new conformation of the LeuT Bacterial Protein. The LeuT protein is in the same family as the brain’s neurotransmitter transporters. The job of these transporters are proteins that are in the cell membrane they reuptake some of the neurotransmitters from the synapse. According to Kamil Gotfryd, a post doc and associate professor at the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen says “Not only does the new discovery give us additional basic scientific knowledge about the complex transporter proteins. It also has perspectives in relation to developing pharmacological methods, with which we can change the function of transporters. In other words, the discovery may lead to better drugs”. This shows the significance of this it can change our understanding about these complex proteins. We can understand the structure and functions of these proteins. We will be able to use our knowledge to make new drugs. ​

Source: University of Copenhagen
The image above shows a visualization of different stages of the LeuT protein.