Sep. 7, 2009 Researchers at the University of Toronto have
identified a protein which plays a key role in the development
of neurons, which could enhance our understanding of how the
brain works and how diseases such as Alzheimer's occur. U of T
graduate student John Calarco, working in the labs of Professor
Ben Blencowe (Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular
Research, University of Toronto) and Professor Mei Zhen (Samuel
Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital), has
identified a protein known as nSR100, which is only found in
vertebrate species and which controls a network of "alternative
splicing events" that are located in the messages of genes with
critical functions in the formation of the nervous system. The
findings are published in a paper in the current edition of the
journal Cell. Alternative splicing events greatly expand the
diversity of the genetic messages and corresponding proteins
produced by genes in vertebrate cells and this process partially
accounts for the evolution of