cell biology – Quanta Magazine

Most Life on Earth Is Dormant, After Pulling an ‘Emergency Brake’

Dan Samorodnitsky — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 14:07:15 +0000

Researchers recently reported the discovery of a natural protein, named Balon, that can bring a cell’s production of new proteins to a screeching halt. Balon was found in bacteria that hibernate in Arctic permafrost, but it also seems to be made by many other organisms and may be an overlooked mechanism for dormancy throughout the tree of life. For most life forms, the ability to shut oneself off...

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How ‘Idle’ Egg Cells Defend Their DNA From Damage

Meghan Willcoxon — Mon, 13 May 2024 14:35:50 +0000

Out of all the cells in the body, oocytes are the most patient. The immature egg cells form inside a female’s body when she’s still a fetus in her mother’s womb, and then they wait in a quiescent state for years, if not decades. Cocooned inside ovaries, they pause, neither dividing nor replicating their DNA, so that one day they may pass along pristinely preserved genetic information to the next...

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Cellular Self-Destruction May Be Ancient. But Why?

Veronique Greenwood — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:54:31 +0000

It can be hard to tell, at first, when a cell is on the verge of self-destruction. It appears to be going about its usual business, transcribing genes and making proteins. The powerhouse organelles called mitochondria are dutifully churning out energy. But then a mitochondrion receives a signal, and its typically placid proteins join forces to form a death machine. They slice through the cell with...

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Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells

Asher Elbein — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 15:10:45 +0000

On a shelf lined with terra cotta pots, herbs bend their stems toward the nearest window. In a field of golden wildflowers, leaves rotate with the path of the sun. In a dappled forest, vines twine up trees, reaching ever upward and away from the dark. Since ancient times, plants’ ability to orient their eyeless bodies toward the nearest, brightest source of light — known today as phototropism...

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Cells Across the Body Talk to Each Other About Aging

Viviane Callier — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 15:08:44 +0000

Aging can seem like an unregulated process: As time marches along, our cells and bodies inevitably accumulate dings and dents that cause dysfunctions, failures and ultimately death. However, in 1993 a discovery upended that interpretation of events. Researchers found a mutation in a single gene that doubled a worm’s life span; subsequent work showed that related genes, all involved in the response...

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