This contest is an attempt to promote scientific knowledge among community in a fun and interesting way with the help of molecules.

"Edited" (20.09.2019)

(Due to personal issues) This contest stops for 1+ week/s.
Presumably, the next riddle will be published on Saturday, September 28, 20:00 ± 15 minutes UTC.

Some people like to travel around the world and tell others stories about what happens outside of our organisms/cells in other countries.
And with “Identify the molecule” contest you can try to travel inside our own organism/cells and cells of the organisms around us.

For more information about this contest read "Identify the molecule contest. Introduction. Prize: 100 STEM" post.

The prize here is

1. knowledge

facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject
[Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2010]

That understanding of our own organism and organisms around us is the real prize in the case of this contest. No matter what happens (whether or not you get 100 STEM), you can win (can acquire the knowledge by investigating different sources of information, remembering and using it to your advantage in the future).

2. 100 STEM

STEMGeeks is a community focused on STEM topics rewarding engagement with STEM tokens. STEMGeeks is powered by the Steem blockchain with it's own distribution model for STEM tokens in addition to the potential STEEM tokens.
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and includes a wide range of science and technology topics.
source

Consider these tokens as a bonus.

I’ll upvote all the comments (with the guesses).

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Images and text are the clues for you to guess a riddle (the name of the molecule in this case).

Note that

a) even though this contest is called “Identify the molecule”,
-> molecule (singular)
sometimes it’s not just a molecule which is responsible for a specific function, but rather a complex of molecules.
Example:
cytochrome c oxidase (Complex IV)

is a large transmembrane protein complex… It is the last enzyme in the respiratory electron transport chain of cells located in the membrane.
source

b) some molecules/complexes have different names. For example, other names for cytochrome c oxidase (example above) are

Complex IV (mitochondrial electron transport).
Cytochrome a3.
Cytochrome aa3.
Cytochrome oxidase.
Warburg's respiratory enzyme.
source

Any of those names would be a valid entry.

c) Some almost identical molecules are grouped into classes / groups / families.
Example:
Helicases are divided into 6 groups. RecD and Dda molecules belong to helicases group (Superfamily 1 (SF1)). In this case you would need to guess only the name of the group –> Helicase/ Helicases.

d) Some proteins can have different forms – isoforms.
Example:
There’re trypsin 1 and trypsin 2. In this case you would need to guess only the general name – trypsin.

Riddle

Note that in this riddle it’s enough to guess the group name of the molecules, to which the molecule described here belongs (but you can provide the name of the molecule itself as well).
Molecules of this group serve for one сommon purpose – serving as alarm system, when viruses attack host cells. As a result, informed cells shift into special mode to fight viruses.
They are signalling molecules [1]
You can see one of them on the image below.

(It’s a dimeric protein (the first monomer is highlighted in limon and the second is highlighted in marine). It’s shown in complex with its receptor (2 copies; highlighted in cyan) on the image above. Surface representation. This complex resembles butterfly. The image was created by me with the help of PyMol - open source tool for molecular visualization/exploration. PDB-file was obtained from PDB)

Here’s the data showing where (in what human tissues) the gene of this molecule is expressed the most:

The data were provided with the help of Metabolic gEne RApid Visualizer

(It’s a dimeric protein (the first monomer is highlighted in limon and the second is highlighted in marine). It’s shown in complex with its receptor (2 copies; highlighted in cyan) on the image above. Cartoon representation. This complex resembles butterfly. The image was created by me with the help of PyMol - open source tool for molecular visualization/exploration. PDB-file was obtained from PDB)

Once this molecule was “The molecule of the month” on PDB (Protein Data Bank).

The RCSB PDB Molecule of the Month by David S. Goodsell (RCSB PDB-Rutgers and The Scripps Research Institute) presents short accounts on selected molecules from the Protein Data Bank...
This feature provides an easy introduction to the RCSB PDB for all types of users, but especially for teachers and students.
source

"Edited" (16.09.2019)

Molecules of this group belong to cytokines (molecules for intercellular communications) [2]

"Edited" (18.09.2019)

This molecule was discovered in 1957 by researches in London.
The name of this molecule and the story of its discovery has something to do with viral interference (situation, when growth of one virus is inhibited by another one) [2]

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Rules

This contest lasts for 6 days.

Some of the clues have been already provided in this post.

Additional clues will be given in 2 days (on Monday, September 16, 2019, 20:00 ± 15 minutes UTC)(I’ll update this post).

And the rest of the clues will be provided in 2 more days (on Wednesday, September 18, 2019, 20:00 ± 15 minutes UTC)(I’ll update this post).

The reason is that some people might need less information to make conclusions that the others.

Additional clues will be added at the end of the "Riddle" section before the "Rules" section with "Edited" label.

Leave your guess (1 guess only) in the comments section of this post.

Don’t edit your comment (otherwise your entry will be invalid).

The first user with correct answer is the winner.

The winner will be announced on Friday, September 20, 2019, 20:00 ± 15 minutes UTC.

I’ll transfer 100 STEM to the winner on that day (September 20).

*I’ll discuss molecules/complexes proposed here in detail (with explanation of the riddle) in the ""Identify the molecule" contest #3 [[The name of the molecule]]. Discussion. Winner announcement" post, which I'll publish in several days after announcing the winner.

If there's no correct answers provided by the users, then 100 STEM will be distributed equally among all participants with guesses.

I’m planning to run this contest every week.
? So, you should expect to see the 4th riddle on Saturday, September 21, 2019, 20:00 ± 15 minutes UTC. ?

"Edited" (20.09.2019)

(Due to personal issues) This contest stops for 1+ week/s.
Presumably, the next riddle will be published on Saturday, September 28.

-> https://time.is/UTC

(UTC / Universal Time Coordinated / Coordinated Universal Time / Universal Time / Greenwich Mean Time)

Useful resources to participate in this contest

1/ National Center for Biotechnology Information

2/ PubMed

PubMed comprises more than 30 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.
source

3/ Wikipedia

4/ PDB-101

PDB-101 is an online portal for teachers, students, and the general public to promote exploration in the world of proteins and nucleic acids.
source

5/ UniProt
UniProt (Universal Protein Resource) is one of the central places for us to get proteins sequences and information about them.
For more information go to https://www.uniprot.org/help/about

6/ PDB (Protein Data Bank)

a global resource for the advancement of research and education in biology and medicine.
source
It's the central resource for 3-D structures of proteins/DNAs/RNAs and associated functional information.

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References

I’ll add all the references for this post later, because most of them contain the name of the molecule.
That would be a spoiler.
I’ll add them in 6 days.

"Edited"

1. Interferons / Molecule of the Month

2. Interferons

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Important
This contest is the work in progress.
This is just the beginning.
A lot can be changed in the future.
Any recommendations/suggestions are very welcome.

All images (without the license specified) are used under the doctrine known in USA as "Fair Use" (similar doctrines are used in other countries). For more information visit the US Gov website