New human cell structure discovered

-
A new structure in human cells has been discovered by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden in collaboration with colleagues in the UK. The structure is a new type of protein complex that the cell uses to attach to its surroundings and proves to play a key part in cell division. The study is published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
The cells in a tissue are surrounded by a net-like structure called the extracellular matrix. To attach itself to the matrix the cells have receptor molecules on their surfaces, which control the assembly of large protein complexes inside them.
These so-called adhesion complexes connect the outside to the cell interior and also signal to the cell about its immediate environment, which affects its properties and behaviour.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now discovered a new type of adhesion complex with a unique molecular composition that sets it apart from those already known about. The discovery has been made in collaboration with researchers in the UK.
"It's incredibly surprising that there's a new cell structure left to discover in 2018," says principal investigator Staffan Strömblad, professor at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet. "The existence of this type of adhesion complex has completely passed us by."
The newly discovered adhesion complex can provide answers to an as-yet unanswered question -- how the cell can remain attached to the matrix during cell division. The previously known adhesion complexes dissolve during the process to allow the cell to divide. But not this new type.
"We've shown that this new adhesion complex remains and attaches the cell during cell division," says Professor Strömblad.
The researchers also show that the newly discovered structures control the ability of daughter cells to occupy the right place after cell division. This memory function was interrupted when the researchers blocked the adhesion complex.
The study was done on human cell lines mainly using confocal microscopy and mass spectrometry. Further research is now needed to examine the new adhesion complex in living organisms.
"Our findings raise many new and important questions about the presence and function of these structures," says Professor Strömblad. "We believe that they're also involved in other processes than cell division, but this remains to be discovered."
The researchers call the newly discovered cell structure 'reticular adhesions' to reflect their net-like form.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Karolinska Institutet. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
  1. John G. Lock, Matthew C. Jones, Janet A. Askari, Xiaowei Gong, Anna Oddone, Helene Olofsson, Sara Göransson, Melike Lakadamyali, Martin J. Humphries, Staffan Strömblad. Reticular adhesions are a distinct class of cell-matrix adhesions that mediate attachment during mitosis. Nature Cell Biology, 2018; 20 (11): 1290 DOI: 10.1038/s41556-018-0220-2

Comments

Post a Comment

Please comment on this blog-

Popular posts from this blog

E-bandage generates electricity, speeds wound healing in rats

-
Image
                                                                                                                                                       A wound covered by an electric bandage on a rat's skin (top left) healed faster than a wound under a control bandage (right). Skin has a remarkable ability to heal itself. But in some cases, wounds heal very slowly or not at all, putting a person at risk for chronic pain, infection and scarring. Now, researchers have developed a self-powered bandage that generates an electric field over an injury, dramatically reducing the healing time for skin wounds in ...
Read more

Fathers Are Happier Than Mothers, Study Shows — And Here's Why

-
Image
The third study compared fathers to mothers and their level of happiness while caring for their children. Fathers, it seems, are more likely to be happy while caring for their children than mothers. A 2019 study out of the University of California Riverside, highlights one more aspect in the divide between fathers and mothers, and more broadly, men and women. The research, a meta-analysis of three different studies, looked at the emotional health of 18,000 people and compared traits like well-being, happiness, episodes of depression, and stress. The first two studies within the research compared parents to childless people and found that fathers are happier than their child-free peers. The reason? Dads, more often than moms, report playing with their children while providing care. Now, let's unpack this a bit. We can assume, that of the 18,000 couples who took part in this research, many split household chores equally. But over recent years, much light has...
Read more

Your friends shape your microbiome — and so do their friends

-
Image
Analysis of nearly 2,000 people living in remote villages in Honduras reveals who’s spreading gut microorganisms to whom. Friends share more than just food when they dine together.Credit: Getty A shared meal, a kiss on the cheek: these social acts bring people together — and bring their microbiomes together, too. The more people interact, the more similar the make-up of their gut microorganisms is, even if individuals don’t live in the same household, a study1 shows. The study also found that a person’s microbiome is shaped not only by their social contacts but also by the social contacts’ connections. The work is one of several studies2 that raise the possibility that health conditions can be shaped by the transmission of the microbiome between individuals, not just by diet and other environmental factors that affect gut flora. In the quest to understand what shapes a person’s microbiome, social interactions are “definitely a piece of the puzzle that I think has been missing until rec...
Read more