%A Zhifu Han, Ning Huang, Tianhui Niu, Jijie Chai, %T A loop matters for FTO substrate selection %0 Journal Article %D 2010 %J Protein Cell %J Protein & Cell %@ 1674-800X %R 10.1007/s13238-010-0082-2 %P 616-620 %V 1 %N 7 %U {https://journal.hep.com.cn/pac/EN/10.1007/s13238-010-0082-2 %8 2010-07-01 %X Recent studies have unequivocally established the link between FTO and obesity. FTO was biochemically shown to belong to the AlkB-like family DNA/RNA demethylase. However, FTO differs from other AlkB members in that it has unique substrate specificity and contains an extended C-terminus with unknown functions. Insight into the substrate selection mechanism and a functional clue to the C-terminus of FTO were gained from recent structural and biochemical studies. These data would be valuable to design FTO-specific inhibitors that can be potentially translated into therapeutic agents for treatment of obesity or obesity-related diseases.