Scientists understand vital gene role in cell growth
A new study at the University of Cambridge has allowed researchers to investigate the unexplored regions of the genome, and understand for the first time the role played by more than 250 genes key to cell growth and development.
The research, mainly funded by the European Research Council, saw investigators combine high-resolution 3D confocal microscopy and computer-automated analysis of the images to survey the fission yeast genome with respect to three key cellular processes simultaneously: cell shape, microtubule organisation and cell cycle progression. Of the 262 genes, two thirds are linked to these processes for the first time and one- third are implicated in multiple processes.
Speaking about the breakthrough, Dr Carazo Salas who led the study said: “More than ten years since the publication of the human genome, the so-called ‘Book of Life’, we still have no direct evidence of the function played by half the genes across all species whose genomes have been sequenced. We have no ‘catalogue’ of genes involved in cellular processes and their functions, yet these processes are fundamental to life. Understanding them better could eventually open up new avenues of research for medicines which target these processes, such as chemotherapy drugs.”
Using a multidisciplinary strategy that took the team over four years to develop, the researchers were able to manipulate a single gene at a time in the fission yeast genome and see simultaneously how this affected the three cellular processes. Fission yeast is used as a model organism as it is a unicellular organism, whereas most organisms are multicellular. Many of its most fundamental genes carry out the same function in humans, for example in cell development. The technique has enabled the researchers to identify the functions of hundreds of genes across the genome for the first time and to systematically ask how the processes might be linked.
The study is published in the journal Developmental Cell.
