Monday's Molecule #79

 
What is this protein doing and what is its name? You don't need to identify the species.

There's a direct connection between today's molecule and a Nobel Prize. The prize was awarded for discovering this molecule and recognizing that its function was exactly what had been long predicted.

The first person to correctly identify the molecule and name the Nobel Laureate(s), wins a free lunch at the Faculty Club. Previous winners are ineligible for one month from the time they first collected the prize. There are three ineligible candidates for this week's reward. You know who you are.


THEME:

Nobel Laureates
Send your guess to Sandwalk (sandwalk (at) bioinfo.med.utoronto.ca) and I'll pick the first email message that correctly identifies the molecule and names the Nobel Laureate(s). Note that I'm not going to repeat Nobel Laureate(s) so you might want to check the list of previous Sandwalk postings by clicking on the link in the theme box.

Correct responses will be posted tomorrow. I may select multiple winners if several people get it right.

Comments will be blocked for 24 hours. Comments are now open.

UPDATE: The protein is aquaporin, a transporter that moves water molecules from outside the membrane to inside. The Nobel Laureate is Peter Agre. This week's winner is Maria Altshuler of the University of Toronto. Honorable mention to Michael Fraser who answered before Maria but gave the Nobel Laureates and MacKinnon and Agre. We've already done Roderick MacKinnon.

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[Image Credit: Kozono D, Yasui M, King LS, Agre P. (2002)Aquaporin water channels: atomic structure molecular dynamics meet clinical medicine. J Clin Invest. 2002 Jun;109(11):1395-9. [comlete article]]