Irina Artsimovitch, professor of microbiology, is lead author of a new study finding that a protein does something that scientists once thought impossible: It unfolds itself and refolds into a completely new shape.

Artsimovitch and a team of reserachers determined that this protein, called RfaH, starts out in its alpha form, composed of two spiral shapes. Later, in its beta form, it resembles spokes on a wheel and is called a barrel. When RfaH refolds, it acquires a new function - yet another finding that researchers would not have predicted.

“We showed that RfaH refolds, which is a big enough deal already. You would think this is impossible. That’s what you’re told in school,” said Artsimovitch. “But in this case, it’s even better than that because we show that when RfaH refolds, it acquires a new function. It can do something that it couldn’t do before.”

The research is published in the July 20, 2012, issue of the journal Cell.

The findings have significant implications for studies of gene expression control and protein structure. This remarkable ability to refold suggests that RfaH and similar proteins might be able to bind in ways and to other molecules that had never been considered. Scientists who engineer proteins might have an entirely new step to add to their models. And now that the first case of a complete alpha to beta structural change has been demonstrated, chances are good that researchers will find other proteins that can do the same thing.

Read the entire press release, courtesy of Emily Caldwell, research communications, The Ohio State University, http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/proteinfold.htm