RRP17 (red) binds CAPS1 (green) to help the heart pump out hormones.

Problems of the heart may be healed by brain matter, if findings from Rybkin et al. are any indication. Proteins that normally instigate neurotransmitter release help the heart calm down during times of stress and high blood pressure.

Rybkin et al. deal with matters of the heart. In a search for novel heart-specific signaling proteins that might regulate functions such as heart rate, they previously found one that was similar to the signal-transducing small G-protein, Ras. They called the newbie RRP17, for Ras-related protein on human chromosome 17.

RRP17 binds to a protein called CAPS1, which enhances neurotransmitter vesicle release. The team now shows that CAPS1 levels rise in heart cells in response to cardiac stress. RRP17 levels did not increase during the stress, but what was already there promoted CAPS1 to drive...

The Rockefeller University Press
2007
The Rockefeller University Press
2007
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