HOME >> BIOLOGY >> NEWS
Critical role in programmed cell death identified

Hanover, NH--Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have found links in the cell death machinery of worms and mammals, opening new avenues for studying and targeting a process vital to development and implicated in cancer and autoimmune diseases.

The work, reported in the February 17 issue of Nature, demonstrates the role of mitochondria, the cellular power plant, in prompting worm cells to self destruct. These results unify cell death models along the evolutionary spectrum, from simple animal systems to humans.

In spite of its name, programmed cell death, or apoptosis, is essential for life; it's needed for nervous system development and it keeps the body up and running. Miscues and failures are instrumental in cancer, autoimmune disorders or neurodegenerative diseases.

Mitochondria, the organelles responsible for producing energy to fuel cell processes, also appear to release molecules that set the cell death program in motion. While their activity in mammalian cell death was known, mitochondrial involvement in worms had not previously been shown.

The new work, led by Dr. Barbara Conradt, assistant professor of genetics at Dartmouth Medical School, reveals the importance of mitochondria in cell death in the roundworm C. elegans, enhancing the view of how cell death is conserved from worms to humans.

"Now it seems that there is really one way of killing cells and it involves these mitochondria. Using genetics, we could rigorously show that mitochondria are part of it. It unifies two different hypothesis and makes worms a great model to analyze how cell death is induced, " Conradt said.

Mitochondria are dynamic structures, constantly changing shape, budding and fusing. In cells instructed to die, the mitochondria tend to become smaller or fragment, but whether this fragmentation is a requirement for cell death or a byproduct has been unclear, until now.

Conradt and her colleagues determined that
'"/>

Contact: Hali Wickner
mednews@dartmouth.edu
603-650-1520
Dartmouth Medical School
16-Feb-2005


Page: 1 2 3

Related biology news :

1. Critical protein prevents DNA damage from persisting through generations
2. Critical pairing
3. Critical hearing gene helps send auditory messages to brain
4. Critical step traced in anthrax infection
5. Mouse study: Critical Down syndrome region isnt
6. Reprogrammed fibroblasts identical to embryonic stem cells
7. A twist of fate -- Reprogrammed fibroblasts resemble embryonic stem cells
8. Heart failure: Intervention possibilities from imaging programmed cell loss
9. Its not fair! We are programmed to resist weight loss
10. Researchers unveil strategy for creating actively-programmed anti-cancer molecules
11. Muscle of obese programmed to amass fat, genetic study finds

Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: Critical role programmed cell death identified

(Date:5/20/2013)... resistant to the antibiotic colistin are also commonly ... body, according to a study in mBio ... Society for Microbiology. Cross-resistance to colistin and host ... body against bacterial attack, could mean that patients ... with a crippled immune response. Colistin is a ...
(Date:5/20/2013)... suggests that a compound abundant in the Mediterranean diet ... , By altering a very specific step in gene ... cells that die as scheduled. , One way that ... would cause them to die on a regular cycle ... cells, led by Ohio State University researchers, found that ...
(Date:5/20/2013)... Colo., USA New Geology articles ... May 2013 cover a wide swath of geoscience ... oceanography, geophysics, and paleobotany. Locations studied include Siberia; ... at Alpi Apuane, Italy; Ukraine; Mars; and the ... , 1. Rubies, jadeite, and plate tectonics;, 2. ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Resistance to last-line antibiotic makes bacteria resistant to immune system 2Resistance to last-line antibiotic makes bacteria resistant to immune system 3The compound in the Mediterranean diet that makes cancer cells 'mortal' 2The compound in the Mediterranean diet that makes cancer cells 'mortal' 3New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 2New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 3New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 4New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 5New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 6New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 7New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 8New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 9New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 10New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 11
(Date:5/20/2013)... , May 20, 2013  (PSHR) Pacific ... naturally based products across a broad range of ... has retained investor relations firm, BlueWater Advisory Group, ... return to trading process, and to direct the ... initiation. Matthew Mills ...
(Date:5/20/2013)... (PRWEB) May 20, 2013 With bed bugs' ... said that although bed bugs need to be eliminated, one ... not compromise a person's health. And so to help bed ... to get rid of bed bugs without using ... bed bug spray it called Bed Bug Bully. , According ...
(Date:5/20/2013)... , May 20, 2013   Flexion Therapeutics ... Frederick W. Driscoll to its management team ... 30 years of financial management experience with biotechnology and ... Mr. Driscoll was chief financial officer for Novavax (NASDAQ: ... that secured more than $250 million through a combination ...
(Date:5/20/2013)... (PRWEB) May 20, 2013 Researchers from the ... the connection between lower back pain, and the acne causing ... in the system the bacteria seek out oxygen deprived location ... in the spinal column, P.acnes has the ability to live ... , Fernando Perez, a spokesman for “ The best acne ...
Breaking Biology Technology:Pacific Shore Holdings Retains Investor Relations Firm 2New Non Pesticide Discovery on How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs Tipped by My Cleaning Products 2Flexion Therapeutics Names Frederick Driscoll Chief Financial Officer 2Adult Acne Treatment, Probiotic Action Shares New Insight How Treating Acne May Help Reduce Body Pain 2
Cached News: