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Ah. Ok. I see why you would infer that. But it's an inference -- an assumption that human ligases will do what ligases do in other species and that's not what
by DoreenMichele 3y ago
Ah. Ok. I see why you would infer that.
But it's an inference -- an assumption that human ligases will do what ligases do in other species and that's not what the actual research shows, at least not that the article indicates.
We've just discovered these. They are investigating what they do. Their investigation shows they protect against oxidative stress, which is significant.
- dekhn 3y agoI generally agree with your assessment. I skimmed the paper and there really isn't any direct evidence that it's a "repair mechanism" beyond the apparent effects of knocking out the gene: cells die faster, and degradation of ribosomal RNA is faster. The presumed mechanism here would be oxidative stress->damage to rRNA->reduced protein production/increased error rate in proteins->cell is not happy, with the RNA ligase playing the role of repairing localized damage caused by stress thus allowing the cell to continue at its normal rate. There also isn't any strong evidence that this system resembles the ones seen in viruses and bacteria. There are many RNA ligases that have many different roles and the variations aren't shared between all kingdoms of life.
- DoreenMichele 3y agoThank you. That's helpful. I have lousy eyesight. I sometimes just fail to find what I'm looking for and it's important to me to understand this stuff.
- great_tankard 3y agoAgreed on all counts, though it's important to note that this protein has bacterial homologs that almost definitely have the same function (5'-3' RNA ligase activity).
- jjtheblunt 3y agoI think you're right that they're just (at this point) making a conjecture, which is incongruent with the title.