耶路撒冷希伯来大学的研究人员发现了我们体内一个重要分子的另外一个作用。该研究促进了世界范围内控制疾病的遗传调控研究的发展，这些疾病包括AIDS和不同类型的癌症。
这个分子就是Lysyl-tRNA合成酶，即LysRS，是细胞中最古老的分子之一。
希伯来大学的研究人员发现，LysRS另外一个重要的角色是作为控制不同基因表达的中心调控子。此外，在执行该功能的时候，它先前的功能会终止。
研究人员介绍说，这项研究具有重要意义，因为LysRS与AIDS和癌症等疾病有关。艾滋病病毒在复制过程中会使用宿主细胞的LysRS。同样在一些癌症中也发现高水平的LysRS，比如乳腺癌。在这些研究背景下，该分子的机制仍然需要进一步挖掘。
理解LysRS在不同疾病中的调控影响，对全世界范围内的疾病治疗研究具有重要贡献，使得我们可以通过这些疗法控制相关疾病中特定基因的打开或关闭。
这项研究结果发布在Molecular Cell上。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Molecular Cell,12 June 2009 doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2009.05.019
LysRS Serves as a Key Signaling Molecule in the Immune Response by Regulating Gene Expression
Nurit Yannay-Cohen1, 5, Irit Carmi-Levy1, 5, Gillian Kay1, Christopher Maolin Yang2, Jung Min Han3, D. Michael Kemeny2, Sunghoon Kim3, Hovav Nechushtan4, , and Ehud Razin1, ,
1 Department of Biochemistry, The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 91120, Israel
2 Department of Microbiology and Immunology Program, Life Science Institute, National University of Singapore 117456, Republic of Singapore
3 Center for Medicinal Protein Network and Systems Biology, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea
4 Oncology Department, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, P.O. Box 12272, Jerusalem 91120, Israel
Lysyl-tRNA synthetase (LysRS) was found to produce diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap4A) in vitro more than two decades ago. Here, we used LysRS silencing in mast cells in combination with transfected normal and mutated LysRS to demonstrate in vivo the critical role played by LysRS in the production of Ap4A in response to immunological challenge. Upon such challenge, LysRS was phosphorylated on serine 207 in a MAPK-dependent manner, released from the multisynthetase complex, and translocated into the nucleus. We previously demonstrated that LysRS forms a complex with MITF and its repressor Hint-1, which is released from the complex by its binding to Ap4A, enabling MITF to transcribe its target genes. Here, silencing LysRS led to reduced Ap4A production in immunologically activated cells, which resulted in a lower level of MITF inducible genes. Our data demonstrate that specific LysRS serine 207 phosphorylation regulates Ap4A production in immunologically stimulated mast cells, thus implying that LysRS is a key mediator in gene regulation.
