#centrosome

Centriole Building

The centriole – an organelle vital for the faithful separation into each daughter cell when a cell divides – is composed of an assembly of proteins. Using expansion microscopy, this study correlates the spatial location of 24 of those proteins with structural features of the human centriole, and then models the molecular architecture of the centriole as it assembles (shown here)

Read the published research article here

Video from work by Marine H. Laporte and colleagues

University of Geneva, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Geneva, Switzerland

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Published in Cell, April 2024

Kidney Shaping

Protein CEP120, essential for centrosome (internal cell structures vital for cell polarity and division) function, underlies normal kidney function and repair after injury

Read the published research paper here

Image from work by Ewa Langner and colleagues

Department of Medicine (Nephrology Division), Washington University St Louis, MO, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in EMBO Reports, December 2023

Not Going Swimmingly

Although the average pair of human testicles produces 1,500 sperm per second, it’s a complex process involving thousands of genes. If something goes wrong, it can lead to infertility, a health problem affecting about 7% of the male population. We need to improve our understanding of male infertility: around 40% of cases have an unknown cause. Here, we see a healthy sperm (left) and four abnormal sperm from an infertile male with a mutation in the CEP78 gene (right). Researchers discovered damage in this gene when comparing the patient's DNA to his relatives. CEP78 helps to form the centrosome, a subcellular structure vital for sperm production and fertilisation. When the scientists removed the CEP78 gene from mice, the males produced fewer sperm with the same defects seen in humans. Identifying the role of CEP78 in male fertility may one day help us to treat the condition.

Written by Henry Stennett

Image from work by Xueguang Zhang, Rui Zheng, Chen Liang, Haotian Liu, Xiaozhen Zhang, and colleagues

Sichuan University, Chengdu and Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Science Advances, October 2022

Clearing Clutter

When enough unwanted paper and rubbish accumulates on your desk, it can impede productivity. Hard workers inside our body can be crowded out too, and a study has shown that centrosomes – organisational centres of the cell, which choreograph the production of structural microtubules – can be overrun by accumulations of protein. This dangerous clutter is found in patients with neurological conditions like Parkinson’s, and was long known to form near the centrosome. Now it's clear that they obstruct the centrosome’s essential work, preventing the growth of microtubules in experiments (bottom row), compared to healthy cells (top row, with red network seen rapidly regrowing in the right panel). Without the microtubules, nerve cells lose structure and function, and can ultimately die, leading to the devastating symptoms we associate with neurological disease. Identifying ways to protect the centrosome and clean up the accumulations could provide new ways of improving the outlook for patients.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image adapted from work by Anila Iqbal and colleagues

Centre for Biomedical Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, UK

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Biology Open, October 2020

Building Bridges

It’s a classic ‘chicken-and-egg’ situation. Microtubules are small tubes that provide essential structure and transport routes for a whole variety of processes inside our cells. But during very early development our cells don’t have a centrosome – the structure that usually organises these microtubules, neatly laying them out across the cell to perform their functions. So how do they function without their guide steering them in the right direction? By looking at living cells in a developing mouse embryo that was modified to produce a fluorescent protein alongside its microtubules (pictured in blue), researchers spotted the answer: The cells are connected by dense bridges of microtubules (the light blue structures joining each cell), which direct the growth of more microtubules inside. Strands emanating out from these bridges reach across the cell to help transport key molecules that ultimately direct the growth from these few cells into a whole independent organism.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by J. Zenker and colleagues

Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore

Image reprinted with permission from the AAAS - the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Published in Science, September 2017

A postdoctoral fellowship is available to study the function of mammalian polo-like kinase 4 and 1 (Plk4 and Plk1), which play central roles in regulating various biological events, including centriole duplication, bipolar spindle formation, chromosome segregation, cell division, and proliferation. Dysregulation of Plk4/Plk1-dependent processes, by mutations in their associated cellular…

A postdoctoral fellowship is available to study the function of mammalian polo-like kinase 4 and 1 (Plk4 and Plk1), which play central roles in regulating various biological events, including centriole duplication, bipolar spindle formation, chromosome segregation, cell division, and proliferation. Dysregulation of Plk4/Plk1-dependent processes, by mutations in their associated cellular…

A postdoctoral fellowship is available to study the function of mammalian polo-like kinase 4 and 1 (Plk4 and Plk1), which play central roles in regulating various biological events, including centriole duplication, bipolar spindle formation, chromosome segregation, cell division, and proliferation. Dysregulation of Plk4/Plk1-dependent processes, by mutations in their associated cellular…