What was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2012?
Last reviewed: 17.10.2021
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The Nobel Prize Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2012 to Robert Lefkowitz, American scientist professor of molecular and cellular physiology at Stanford University, and Howard's biochemist Brian Kobilke for studying the work of living cell receptors (G-protein pair receptors).
For specialists, for a long time it remained a mystery how cells can receive information about their environment.
Scientists had speculation about this. They believed that for this the cells have their own specific receptors, however how they functioned was unclear. For example, the adrenaline hormone had a big impact on blood pressure and made the heart beat faster. But what was at the bottom of this phenomenon and remained unsolved.
Receptors associated with G-protein are a large class of cell membrane proteins that ensure the communication of all cells in the body. Activates their compounds that bind to these receptors, including hormones, pheromones, neurotransmitters, hypersensitive molecules and a number of other factors necessary for the normal course of physiological processes. If the binding of receptors and G-proteins is disrupted, it leads to the development of a variety of diseases.
Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka were able to detect internal mechanisms of joint work of receptors and G-proteins.
Researches of scientists began in 1968. Lefkowitz noted various hormones with the radioactive isotope of iodine, which revealed a number of receptors, among which was the beta adrenergic receptor, the adrenaline receptor.
By isolating this receptor from the membrane, scientists have begun further research.
In 1980, Brian Kobilka joined the team of Lefkowitz. He was able to isolate a gene that encoded a human beta-adrenergic receptor. Analyzing this gene, the experts concluded that it has a great similarity to the sequence that encodes one of the photosensitive receptors of the eye. Thus it became clear that there is a whole family of receptors that function and look the same.
In 2011, scientists were able to capture the beta-adrenergic receptor at the time of its activation by hormone and the transmission of the cell signal. In the Nobel document, this image is called a "molecular masterpiece".