(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists have found that the organelles of nuclear cells do not grow continuously, but in stochastic jumps.
This mechanism allows the cell to maintain the size of organelles within a certain allowable range and change it in case of changing environmental conditions.
The results of the study are important both for bioengineering applications and for understanding the biogenesis of diseases.
Eukaryotic cells differ from prokaryotic cells by the presence of a nucleus: it is from such cells that animals, plants and fungi are composed.
In addition to the nucleus, they contain many other organelles that perform a variety of functions.
The size of the organelles must be variable enough to allow cells to grow or shrink depending on environmental conditions, while still being kept within certain limits.
Now physicists from Washington University in St. Louis (USA) have conducted experiments showing that eukaryotic cells can control fluctuations in the size of their organelles.
Scientists have theoretically predicted a universal scale ratio, which is subject to the size of organelles. The study suggests that they grow in random bursts from the cell’s limited set of building blocks.
The study showed that the growth of organelles is not an ordered process at all, but stochastic bursts.
Moreover, these bursts limit the accuracy with which the cell can control the size of its organelles, and also maintain a variety of sizes in a certain range.
Previously, scientists have discovered certain molecular factors that regulate the size of organelles. However, this study provides new insights into the principles underlying organelle size control.
The authors used yeast as a model organism, and now they are waiting for the opportunity to study other types and types of their cells.
According to the researchers, the identified principle is the same for both yeast and human cells. But the molecular mechanisms that control the frequency and strength of these bursts have yet to be established.
These patterns may suggest how best to use organelle assembly for bioengineering applications, as well as identify defects in organelle biogenesis seen in various diseases, the scientists concluded.
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