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A protein that controls blood pressure is also crucial for fertilization, as shown in a report in the February issue of Nature Medicine.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) regulates blood pressure indirectly by cutting (and therefore activating) proteins such as angiotensin. In the new study, Gen Kondoh and his colleagues describe a radically new biochemical activity for ACE: it cleaves lipids that attach proteins to membranes, releasing the peptides to act away from the cell. Moreover, sperm from mice that lack ACE have problems attaching to eggs, a deficiency that can be reversed by restoring its lipid-, but not its protein-cleaving activity, show the authors. These results show that ACE has a crucial role in fertilization, which depends on a hitherto unknown biochemical activity of the enzyme. Author contact: Gen Kondoh
Kyoto University, Japan.
Tel: + 81 75 751 4860
E-mail: kondohg@frontier.kyoto-u.ac.jp Also available online.
(C) Nature Medicine press release.
Message posted by: Trevor M. D'Souza
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