Digging into this. Never mentioned once in Biochemistry, Cell biology, or Molecular biology as I was getting my degree.
Bizarre.
The most enigmatic structure in cell biology: the Vault.
Often missing from science text books due to the mysterious nature of their existence, it has been 40 years since the discovery of these giant, half-empty structures, produced within nearly every cell, of every animals, on the planet. https://video.nostr.build/c8654f998096d8fb6a8ef065e0a8b132a0d0d63a0eacf854a1d01598a83d664d.mp4
Discussion
Potential writeup? 👀
If they don’t know anything about it, then why would they bother mentioning it? It gives the impression that the current authority isn’t really an authority, and that they are just guessing at a ton of this. Therefore it is good to only teach conclusions and results rather than ambiguities and mysteries if the goal is to establish your importance. Teach the latter, and suddenly they don’t matter very much.
Schooling has become a tool to establish hierarchies of political authority, not creative, explorative thought. Only by the grace of some good teachers and long lasting culture does the latter still occur to any degree. The system itself is explicitly antithetical to it.
Good scientists still exist and there are many of them. Sadly, they're all bearing the brunt of ire generated by the foolish greed pursued by Faucii et. al.
In this case the Vault is a mystery and my experience in science has taught me that good scientists are more like detectives. For 40 years people like Dr. Rome have been finding out "what they don't know they don't know" before others can start with the "what they know they don't know".
My wife's mentor (Dr. David Knaff) spent 90% of his career on one single enzyme in Spinach. He died while still pursuing his own mystery. But the enzyme, Ferredoxin is a critical component in photosynthesis. We still don't know exactly how photosynthesis works. In fact we don't shit about most things. Yet, ever forward.
Personally, I'm happy to know that some scientists still have their hearts in the right place and I think we're going to see a Renaissance in science if we can get away from this pharmaceutical-industrial-government complex. Fingers crossed RFK Jr. does full scale spring cleaning.
Had to look this up too. Wasn’t aware either. This is what the machine brains ⚙️ 🧠 told me
In cellular biology, **vaults** are large, barrel-shaped ribonucleoprotein complexes found in eukaryotic cells. They are among the largest cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs), with a size of approximately **70 nm** in length and **40 nm** in diameter. Here's a breakdown of their key features:
### 1. **Structure**:
- **Shape**: Resemble hollow octagonal barrels with a "cap" at each end, reminiscent of cathedral vaults (hence the name).
- **Components**:
- **Major vault protein (MVP)**: Forms the structural shell (≈70% of the particle).
- **Vault RNA (vRNA)**: Small, non-coding RNA molecules (≈5% of mass) bound to the interior.
- **Other proteins**: Telomerase-associated protein 1 (TEP1) and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 4 (PARP4).
### 2. **Function**:
The exact biological role remains debated, but proposed functions include:
- **Transport**: Shuttling molecules (e.g., mRNA, drugs) between the nucleus and cytoplasm.
- **Cellular defense**: Protecting cells from xenobiotics (e.g., chemotherapeutic drugs) by sequestering or exporting them.
- **Stress response**: Involved in resistance to apoptosis (cell death) under stress conditions.
- **Nuclear pore association**: Vaults localize near nuclear pores, suggesting a role in nucleocytoplasmic transport.
### 3. **Relevance to Disease**:
Vaults are linked to **multidrug resistance in cancer**, as elevated MVP levels correlate with poor response to chemotherapy. They may pump drugs out of cells or shield critical pathways.
Despite their discovery in the 1980s, vaults remain enigmatic, with ongoing research to unravel their precise mechanisms and applications in biomedicine.
It must've read this: https://www.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/unlocking-the-vault
Found a YouTube channel from Dr. Leonard Rome who discovered the Vault. Several videos on the subject can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/@VaultParticleGuy
Here is a write-up Dr. Rome did on the Vault last year:
https://www.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/unlocking-the-vault