'Snake' exists ... in human cells

The snake-like structures were discovered in the cells of many different species on the evolutionary tree. Now, Oxford scientists have shown that they also exist in human cells.

The apparent existence of this form is from bacteria to mammals, which show that solid structures perform a very important function in cells. But how and why they form, what their role in cells is is still a big question.

Three groups observed 'snakes' in cells from different species at the same time in 2010, including Dr. Liu Ji-Long's group at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics of Oxford.

Ji-Long and colleagues named them "cytoophidia" when viewed under a microscope: 'cytoophidium' is a 'mobile snake' in Greek.

"Cytoophidia have heads, tails and can move around really look like snakes," Liu Ji-Long explained.

"I report on this finding in fruit flies in early summer of 2010," he said. 'Two months later, there are two reports - one from the group of Zemer Gitai at Princeton and one from the group of James Wilhelm of the University of California, San Diego - about the similar structure of' snake 'in bacteria, beer yeast, flies and mice ".

Ji-Long's group reported the first observation of these cell structures in the Journal of Genetics and Genomics.

"Amazingly, the 'snakes' appear on the tree of life, from bugs to humans , " he said. "Cytoophidia are found inside cells, sometimes near the surface of cells. It seems that the number of 'snakes' in a cell is tightly controlled."

The texture is shaped like a snake
exists in human cells. (Source: physorg.com)

But what are they? After the initial observation of the 'snakes' in the fruit fly, Ji-Long was curious and decided to follow up for more observation opportunities. He used the fruit fly collection of Carnegie Embryology (CIDE), where he worked before moving to Oxford.

In this collection, independent proteins in fruit flies have been labeled with fluorescent blue markers, leaving Ji-Long to identify mobile 'snakes' containing CTP synthase enzymes.

CTP synthase is an important enzyme but not necessarily, one of many enzymes involved in the biological processes needed to maintain our cells. In this case, the enzyme plays a role in making CTP molecules, a block that helps make DNA and RNA. CTP molecules also participate in fat metabolism.

"If the generation of CTP is misleading, it can cause a lot of damage to the cell," Ji-Long said.

It can be speculated about why an enzyme forms this long fiber structure in cells. At the beginning, the cells have a long way from bio-molecular bags, free-floating enzymes, perform many miraculous functions, reactions and metabolic processes.

Cells need an organized structure to bring biochemical reactions within control, with many blockade processes in separate 'chambers' , capsules and partitions. It allows related reactions to be better controlled and regulated, with the concentration of different molecules meeting in the right environment. Then you just need to put all the ingredients into a chemical engineering plant, a brewery or an imaginary tin bank and assume that the recipe will be fine.

"The beauty of a well-organized cell has not been appreciated by everyone. Without structure, a number of molecules will not be able to act as a living cell , " explained the explanation. of Ji-Long. "Separation can be a common feature for many enzymes in cells," he believes.

He notes that enzymes produce a set of biological molecular blocks called purines - clusters in a specific compartment and studies have shown that proteins are found in many parts of a cell. cell. "It seems that the fibers are essential for the CTP synthase enzyme activity , " he said . "We are trying to understand the relationship between the forming fibers and the overall function of enzymes in a cell, but we do not yet have a clear answer."

His research group has found some drugs that affect the bonding formation of CTP synthase enzymes into 'snakes' , making the fibers appear in human cells and fruit flies. This approach can provide a new way to study the function of 'snake' in cells.

An interesting question is why enzymes form small fibers, like 'snakes' or loops, rather than irregular spheres or capsules. They have different surface and mass ratios, which can make a difference in enzyme activity.

"It will be interesting to learn more about the role of cytoophidium in regulating CTP production , " Ji-Long said. He noted that CTP synthase enzymes are found in greater quantities in many types of cancer cells and his team has shown that some potential anticancer drugs may promote the formation of cytoophidia. But it is still a long way to go when it is important to have clinical significance or can be used in health if there is more knowledge about 'mobile snakes'.

At this point, the existence of the 'snake' is an interesting observation, opening up questions for the new fascinating study, but their role in human cells is not clearly known. Ji-Long also said it is possible to exist other enzymes in cell structures that we do not know. "Time will answer everything , " he said.