Experts gain more insight into how cells develop and grow

May 19, 2012 09:38 GMT  ·  By
Dimitrios Vavylonis, assistant professor of physics, heads the Lehigh team that came up with a mathematical model showing how protein oscillates back and forth throughout the cell
   Dimitrios Vavylonis, assistant professor of physics, heads the Lehigh team that came up with a mathematical model showing how protein oscillates back and forth throughout the cell

Scientists involved in studies of how living cells grow observed a long time ago that cells are able to figure out when and where to develop. Determining how this is possible has been a long-standing goal, but researches have thus far yielded few results. A new study finally makes some headway.

Working together with biologists at the University of Miami, physicists at the Leigh University, in the United States, have developed a model that explains this cellular behavior. The joint team found that the protein Cdc42 plays a very important role in the growth process.

The Lehigh group was led by assistant professor of physics Dimitrios Vavylonis. The Miami team was coordinated by associate professor of molecular and cellular pharmacology, and cell biology, Fulvia Verde. Their investigation was focused on yeast cells, which were used as proxies for other cells, too.

Cdc42 was found to oscillate inside yeast cells, triggering a cascade of protein interactions that eventually led to each cell changing its polarity. In turn, this change was found to play a critical role in determining the structure, function and shape of the cell.

When the growth process needs to begin, the protein initiates it by clustering in a particular area of the cellular membrane. According to the team, this oscillatory mechanism is not exclusive to yeast cells, but may represent a common trait of self-organizing biological systems.

“The research is fundamental because it provides science with an important answer to how a living cell controls its growth process,” Vavylonis explains. A study detailing the findings appears in the latest online issue of the top journal Science Express.

“Knowing how this particular protein controls growth could in the long run affect the search for drugs to control cell growth for tissue regeneration, organ development, and explain how neurons extend in different directions,” the expert says.

This is the first time that this type of protein oscillation has been observed in a living cell. Though yeast cells are relatively simple organisms, they may reveal the underlying principles that all living systems are governed by.

Using these data, scientists could then conduct research on more complex systems, potentially revealing information that could be used to develop novel treatments against a wide variety of diseases.