What I learned about the division of cells may be a mistake

If you take high school biology, you may learn about the cell department: a decisive process in all forms of life called the division. For more than a hundred years, students learned that during the division, the parent cell becomes spherical before dividing into the cells of a daughter of the same size and shape. A new study, however, may rewrite many textbooks in biology.

The researchers have revealed that the division is not always characterized by the approximation of cells (when the parental cell becomes spherical), which means that the cells of the resulting daughter are not always corresponding, and do not carry the same function. Their work is detailed in a Ticket It was published on Thursday in the magazine of Science, and it carries important effects on understanding the division of cells in diseases such as cancer.

“Students learn that when the cell is divided, it will generate a unified spherical shape. However, our study shows that in real living organisms, it is not so simple.” statement.

In the new study, the researchers noticed the formation of blood vessels in the embryos. The growth of the new vessels consists of slow -moving cells led by one fast -moving cell. When the leading cell in the split underwent, it did not become spherical or experience. The asymmetric division allowed the formation of two different cells: a slow -moving cell and one fast -moving cell to take the initiative in the location of the origin cell. Previously, scientists have been associated with the maintenance of asymmetric cells with specialized cells called stem cells.

“The use of transparent infection embryos that lasted for one day allows us to study a dynamic process such as division of cells within a living organism,” said Holly Loffrov, a study author and a lecturer in cardiovascular science at Manchester University. “So we are able to produce films for this basic behavior of cells, and thus reveal new aspects of how tissue growth.”

Moreover, the researchers noted that the shape of the mother cell can determine whether its division will be identical or asymmetric. For example, they noticed that the shorter and wider cells were more likely to become spherical and divided into a similar daughter’s cells. On the contrary, long cells and insomnia are not “round”, and as a result, asymmetric divided.

For more investigation of this, Herbert, Lovjov, and their colleagues dealt with the size of the humanitarian cells via Micropatterning. “Micropatterning allows us to create microscopic spots of proteins that cells can adhere to,” explained by Georgia Holmes, the author participating in the study, and a post -PhD researcher at the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Manchester. “The cells will then take the form of the correction. This allows us to change the shape of the cells and test how these forms affect the division of subsequent cell.”

Herbert said: “Our research indicates that the form of the cell before it is divided can be directed mainly whether the cells are roaming, and most importantly, if their daughters are identical or asymmetric in size and function,” said Herbert.

As a result, scientists may one day be able to create cells with different functions by controlling the shape of their mother cells. On a wider scale, their analyzes indicate that asymmetric divisions play an important role in creating different tissues and organs. The study also contains important effects on diseases such as cancer, in which the asymmetric division can lead to the behavior of different cells that may be associated with the development of cancer.

Meanwhile, our ideas with all students, parents and school officials who may soon have to spend a heavy amount of money on updated textbooks.