Cell's Energy Secrets Revealed With Supercomputers




Supersized Science show

Summary: It takes two to tango, as the saying goes. This is especially true for scientists studying what’s inside of a cell. Protein molecules inside a cell interact with other proteins, and in a sense the proteins dance with a partner to respond to signals and regulate each other's activities. Crucial to giving cells energy for life is the migration of a compound called adenosine triphosphate or ATP, out of the cell's powerhouse, the mitochondria. And critical for this flow out to the power-hungry parts of the cell is the interaction between a protein enzyme called hexokinase-II and proteins in the voltage-dependent anion channel, VDAC, found on the outer membrane of the mitochondria. Supercomputer simulations have revealed for the first time how VDAC binds to HKII. The work was supported by allocations awarded by the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment, funded by the National Science Foundation on the Stampede2 system of TACC. This basic research in how proteins interact out of the cell's powerhouses, the mitochondria, will help researchers understand the molecular basis of diseases such as cancer. The supercomputer-supported study was published in Nature Communications Biology, June 2021. It found that when the enzyme and the channel proteins bind to each other, the conduction of the channel changes and partially blocks the flow of ATP. Simulations on Stampede2 revealed this binding. TACC science writer and podcast host Jorge Salazar talks more about it with study co-authors and biochemists Emad Tajkhorshid, Nandan Haloi, and Po-Chao Wen of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Supersized Science is part of the Texas Podcast Network – the conversations changing the world – brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. Story Link: https://www.tacc.utexas.edu/-/cell-s-energy-secrets-revealed-with-supercomputers Music Credit: Raro Bueno, Chuzausen freemusicarchive.org/music/Chuzausen/