The team of researchers is using a new approach, called the Synthetic Processing (SynPro) system, in zebrafish to study how Vg1 is formed. “We’re interested in how synthetic enzymes might be used to control natural proteins, including disease-causing proteins,” Dingal said. The researchers studied interactions between the two proteins Vg1 and Nodal. Vg1, however, must undergo cleavage — while cleavage of Nodal is not required — to activate signaling on target cells. Dingal will continue to study the proteins in the next phase of the project to determine, for example, the molecular rules that chaperone proteins use to control the composition of signaling complexes.