((( Latest Protein Spotlight issue: out of the ordinary )))
January 2017
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Life depends on chemical signals. Without them our heart wouldn't know
how to beat or our thoughts how to form, our eyes would be unable to
see, our legs unable to walk and our mouths would be incapable of
speech. Each of these actions - whether we are consciously aware of
them or not - depend on chemical signals that shoot through our body
at lightning speed, sending information to our brain which reads it
and reacts to it by firing back signals that involve an action of some
sort. Sometimes, however, the signalling process is hindered giving
rise to bizarre neuropsychiatric disorders. One such disorder is known
as Tourette Syndrome, or TS. TS is characterised by various tics, one
of which is the very intriguing and involuntary outburst of obscene
words or remarks that are socially inappropriate and offensive - a tic
known as coprolalia. In the past 30 years, it has become apparent that
TS is caused by genetic and environmental factors, although scientists
were having troubling pinning down the genetic culprit. Until recently
when a protein known as SLIT and NTRK-like protein 1 - or Slitrk1 -
proved to have a direct role in this odd disorder.
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