Scientists discover signaling circuits in body cells



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Scientists discover signaling circuits in body cells

The very first cell-scale network images were captured by scientists from the University of Edinburgh using computer techniques similar to those used for the first image of one. black hole. The results reveal that body cells are wired like computer chips to direct signals that indicate their functioning. Unlike a fixed circuit board, however, cells can quickly rewire their communication networks to change their behavior. Credit: University of Edinburgh

Research suggests that body cells are wired like computer chips to direct signals that indicate how they work.

Unlike a fixed circuit board, however, cells can quickly rewire their communication networks to change their behavior.

The discovery of this network at the cell scale allows us to better understand how the instructions are distributed around a cell.

It was thought that the various organs and structures of a cell floated in an open sea called cytoplasm.

The signals that told the cell what to do were supposed to be transmitted on waves and the wave frequency was the crucial part of the message.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have discovered that information is routed over a network of guidewires that transmit signals over very small distances at the nanoscale.

It is the movement of charged molecules through these tiny distances that transmits information, as in a microprocessor, according to the researchers.

These localized signals are responsible for orchestrating the cell's activities, such as asking the muscle cells to relax or contract.

When these signals reach the genetic material at the heart of the cell, called the nucleus, they inform tiny changes in structure that release specific genes so that they can be expressed.

Scientists discover signaling circuits in body cells

The very first cell-scale network images were captured by scientists from the University of Edinburgh using computer techniques similar to those used for the first image of one. black hole. The results reveal that body cells are wired like computer chips to direct signals that indicate their functioning. Unlike a fixed circuit board, however, cells can quickly rewire their communication networks to change their behavior. Credit: University of Edinburgh

These changes in gene expression further alter the behavior of the cell. When, for example, the cell goes from a stable state to a growth phase, the band is completely reconfigured to transmit signals that activate the genes necessary for growth.

The researchers say that understanding the code that controls this cabling system could help understand diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension and cancer, and could one day open up new treatment opportunities.

The team made its discovery by studying the movement of charged calcium molecules inside cells, which are the main messages that contain instructions inside the cells.

Using high power microscopes, they were able to observe the wiring network with the help of computer techniques similar to those that allowed to obtain the very first image of a hole. black.

Scientists explain that their discoveries are an example of quantum biology, an emerging field that uses quantum mechanics and theoretical chemistry to solve biological problems.

The study, published in Nature Communications, was funded by the British Heart Foundation.

Professor Mark Evans, of the Center for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, said: "We have found that cell function is coordinated by a network of nanotubes, similar to the carbon nanotubes that the Found in a microprocessor.

"What is most striking is that this circuit is extremely flexible because this network at the cell scale can be quickly reconfigured to provide different outputs in a manner determined by the information received by the kernel and relayed by it.Circuit boards are still able to achieve. "


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More information:
Nature Communications (2019). DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-019-10055-w

Provided by
University of Edinburgh


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Scientists discover signaling pathways in body cells (24 May 2019)
recovered on May 24, 2019
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