Scientists finally realize how Queuosin is recovered in the gut and distributed by the billion human cells.
How does the human body absorb a crucial micronutrient necessary for everything, from the functioning of the brain to protection against cancer? This was the question that scientists were trying to answer 3 decades ago.
A Queruosina It is a compound similar to a vitamin that the body cannot produce by itself. We can only get it through food and bacteria of the intestine.
“For over 30 years, scientists suspected that there was a carrier for this nutrientbut no one could find him, ”said Valérie de Crícy-Lagard, author of the published an PNAS in May.
“We had been looking for him for a long time. This discovery opens a new chapter in understanding how microbiome and our diet can influence the translation of our genes“, He says, quoted by.
Queuosin alters molecules known as transfer RNA, which play an essential role in protein construction and DNA decoding.
“It’s like a nutrient that adjusts the way our body reads genes,” the scientist explained. “The idea that this little compound, that almost no one heard, plays such an important role is fascinating.”
The identification of the much sought after gene, the SLC35F2paves the way for future studies that can lead to new medications.
“We have long known that Queuosin influences critical processes such as brain health, the metabolic regulation, cancer and even stress responses, But so far we have not knew how it was recovered in the intestine and distributed by the billion human cells that absorb it, ”said researcher Vincent Kelly.
“We don’t believe we could have resolved without the whole team,” said Criss-Lagard. “It’s a perfect example of what international collaboration can achieve.”
