Talk:Furin

Too technical; unclear

I want to note that this article is, overall, too technical for most readers. But rather than use the {{technical}} template to tag it thus, I'd rather discuss first how we could improve it and make its content more accessible.

Let me kick off discussion by making these specific points:

1. The lead paragraph is well written and fairly easy to follow, although it might raise questions in the lay reader, such as:

   1. What does it mean to say a molecule is "encoded by" a gene? Maybe a wikilink to genetic coding would help here.
   2. The second sentence now reads "Some proteins are inactive when they are first synthesized …" (my emphasis); does this mean that we're talking about industrial production of synthetic chemicals in a factory? (I suspect that we're talking about a biological process in a mammalian body — but who knows!)
   3. What does "upstream" mean in this context? What kind of (metaphoric?) "stream" is implied by this terminology?
   4. What information does furin's membership in "family S8" impart? This may be a place for another wikilink to, e.g., enzyme family.
   5. Is this an appropriate place to mention that furin is "subtilisin-like"? To me, it seems rather like explaining that a "spade" is like an "entrenching tool" … ("Eschew obfuscation!") How does knowing that furin is like subtilisin (whatever that may be — should I bother looking it up?) help any non-specialist understand furin better?
   6. Why start the lead paragraph by calling furin a protein, and also end it by mentioning that furin is a peptidase - but without simply stating that it's an enzyme? The first term is very general, the second very specific and technical (as is its redirect protease), while many lay readers do have some understanding of enzymes, for example that they're substances found acting in biological processes to effect particular necessary transformations such as digestion, tissue building and so on.

2. The first sentence of § Function states "The protein encoded by this gene is an enzyme which belongs to the subtilisin-like proprotein convertase family", which immediately raises two questions:

   1. Isn't the article about the enzyme furin, rather than about the gene FURIN?
   2. Does the "family S8" of the lead name "the subtilisin-like proprotein convertase family"?
   3. How is its genetic encoding relevant to an understanding of furin's function (which is our focus here)? If it isn't, why mention it at all?

3. The second sentence of § Function states "The members of this family are proprotein convertases that process latent precursor proteins into their biologically active products", which invites these questions:

   1. Does this sentence simply explain what "the subtilisin-like proprotein convertase family" is?
   2. Or does it try to explain what a proprotein convertase (PPC) is,and also state that this is one family of PPCs?
   3. In either case, could we rewrite these first two sentences to convey the information more clearly? For example (if it's correct), "Furin belongs to the subtilisin-like proprotein convertase (PPC) family S8. (A PPC is an enzyme that produces biologically active proteins from other proteins, known as their precursors.)"

Enough for now. I hope to soon have a stimulating discussion with some editors who are better informed than I! yoyo (talk) 13:49, 13 July 2019 (UTC)