Question

You are studying cultured reindeer cells. The cells start out being brownish gold, due to the activity of the FulL protein (that we recently learned is induced by turkey extract). When you incubate the cells with the extracellular factor Santa, there is a rapid loss of FulL from the cells, and this loss causes the cells to immediately go from being brown to being white. Treatment with Santa also causes the reindeer cells to transcribe the snoW gene, as well as other genes (treE, gifT, and belL). A few hours after snoW, treE, gifT, and belL are transcribed and translated, the cells secrete red and green pigments and also start gliding across the culture dish. They also seem to prefer media with a higher nutrient level, and they are distinctly larger. The new media contains factors CookE and MilK, and after addition of either of these, there are more cells in the dish after a few days. This effect of CookE and MilK can be inhibited by exposure to strong sunlight (UV rays). Finally, you find another factor, called Grinch, which will result in death of the reindeer cells.

a. Please describe one mechanism that would explain how adding Santa to the cultured cells would result in loss of the FulL protein. Give all steps, starting from addition of Santa and ending with the loss of FulL.