07.08.09 UCLA-Until the mid 1980’s the Vault wouldn’t be truly noted until a study conducted by Professor Leonard Rome who, at the time, was studying the birth and death of proteins. Even today this protein made structure, comprised of three major proteins and a small strand of RNA, remains to hold no known function. Today we were fortunate enough to have Professor Leonard Rome, himself, come in and speak on the subject. As one would expect, Leonard Rome, Dean of UCLA’s Medical, was truly just a brilliant man. Yet, perhaps more valuable then brilliants itself was his passion. Professor Leonard Rome knows his subject inside and out, literally.
Named Vaults due to their structure, these tiny capsules found commonly in all red blood cells of the majority of eukaryotic cells, consist mostly of MVPs (Major Vault Proteins). This makes up around 70% of he Vaults themselves. Some of the other major parts of the Vault cell particles is Cap Proteins and vRNA. And despite the developed information towards the structure of the vaults still no information at this time is known regarding their function.
I personally cannot come up with an explanation for what or how these vaults may serve as. A true guess and wild speculation would be that these cell particles have the purpose of resistance. The coding of the vRNA is very simplistic compared to the giant coding of normal RNA which suggests a much more simplistic function. Also it could be guessed that there could probably be an extra copy hidden in the nucleus of the cells as a blueprint for building the cells. However, if in the case that the nucleus is destroyed or damaged the cell may be able to use the vault as a backup resistance in hopes of not a complete shutdown.
One other note I’d like to add to this blog how inspiring it was to see the true passion Professor Leonard Rome had for his Vaults. He stated his passion for his subject popped up in his head as often as food, water, and sleep pops into the average persons head. This to me, serves as a true inspiration because without a true passion like Professor Leonard Romes would never solve something as mysterious as the Vault cell most likely because the outlook of finding out its actual function looks very bleak. I hope Professor Leonard Rome keeps on with his wonderful studies.
http://vaults.arc.ucla.edu/static/bkidspg/bk-rna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_RNA
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/Proteins.html
http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/CURR/science/sciber00/7th/cells/sciber/orgtable.htm
http://www.vaults.arc.ucla.edu/static/scipg/sci-history