Key Vitamin Finds Its Lock
Date: 2.2.2007
Vitamin A is no ordinary dietary supplement. Without it, the body's immune system deteriorates, fetuses develop birth defects, and adults go blind. Now, researchers have identified the molecular lock that enables vitamin A to enter cells. The findings solve a longstanding mystery about vitamin A metabolism and could help scientists develop new ways to fight vitamin-A deficiency in the developing world.
Vitamin A, also known as retinol, is stored in the liver. From there, it's carried through the blood and delivered to tissues by a molecule called retinol-binding protein (RBP). Just how vitamin A gets into cells, however, has remained a mystery. Several teams of biochemists have tried, over 3 decades, to isolate a receptor--or lock--for RBP's key. Because they always came up empty, some researchers argued that a receptor did not exist. Biochemist Hui Sun of the University of California, Los Angeles, was convinced it was out there.
from "www.sciencemag.org":[ http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/125/2]
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