Unfolded protein response

6 important questions on Unfolded protein response

Via which pathway are misfolded proteins degraded?

ER-associated degradation pathway

When is there stress in the ER? Two types and give examples.


Cellular aspects:
  • Glucose deprivation
  • amino acid depletion
  • calcium deregulation
  • ROS
  • hypoxia
  • viral infection
  • protein mutations


Chemical inducers:
  • the N-linked glycosylation inhibitor tunicamycin
  • thapsigargin
  • the calcium ionophore A23187
  • DTT

What are tunicamycin and thapsigargin?

Tunicamycin: Inhibits N-linked glycosylation by preventing core oligosaccharide addition to nascent polypeptides and thereby blocks protein folding and transit through the ER.
Thapsigargin: Non-competitive inhibitor of the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase. Depletes ER calcium leading to ER stress.
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Explain the ER associated degradation pathway.  Which three pathway are there?

  • coupled to PERK- AFT 4: reactivation of translation
  • coupled to ATF6- AFT6: augment XBP1 arme, ready to stop => gene = XBP1 and DDIT3
  • coupled to IRE1- sXBP1: proper protein folding, proteasomal degradation.

The HsPA5/PERK pathway. What does it activate (3)?

1. Amino acid synthesis Asparagine synthetase (ASNS)
2. Amino acid transport SLC7A1, SLC7A11, SLC38A1
3. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthesis Aminoacyl-tRNA

Summarize the unfolded protein stress pathway.

Main perturbation: Hydrophobic residues
Activation mechanism: HSPA5 (BiP) binding to unfolded proteins
Inhibition mechanism: Competition (less unfolded proteins)
Key outcomes and genes involved: 
Prime for translation (tijdelijke translatie remming + aanrukken van amino acid synthese en transport) - ATF4 arm
Chaperone (verbetert het vouwen en helpt bij opruimen)– XBP1arm
Apoptosis (als de stress te groot is) – DDIT3 (CHOP)
Links to disease: Many genetic diseases, where the mutant protein is not folded correctly Diabetes, Cancer

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