Providing Clue to Treatment of Intestinal Infections

 

-Results Published in Nature Communications

 

 

A research team, led by Professor Bo-youn Park from the Department of Systems Biology, has reported that an intestine-specific protein localized in mitochondria, human TRIM31, is essential for promoting a certain kind of autophagy, or the natural destruction of unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components. The team discovered that TRIM31 contributes to a broad range of biological events including bacterial infection. The research thus provides important insights into protection against intestinal pathogenic bacterial infection.

 

Professor Park’s research team includes graduate student Eun A. Ra and Professors Sung-wook Lee, Jae-hee Cheon, and Jinwon Cho. The results were published May 24 in the online edition of Nature Communications with the title “TRIM31 promotes Atg5/Atg7-independent autophagy in intestinal cells.”