主要研究 今天

每一天, adult humans lose up to 70 billion cells due to a form of programmed cell death called apoptosis. It’s an important regulatory mechanism that rids the body of defective cells, 当它崩溃的时候, 细胞不受控制地增殖, 就像癌症一样.

Building on a decades-long legacy of 主要研究 research into cancer in the softshell clam (米娅arenaria), a recent 纸 by a team of 主要研究 researchers sheds new light on how apoptosis evolved in invertebrates. 的 纸, 发表在《澳门葡京网赌游戏》杂志上, overturns a longstanding idea in the science of apoptosis by finding that the genetic repertoire that the clam uses for its apoptosis pathway is more similar to humans than to other invertebrates that have been studied.

“By focusing on the genome and the apoptosis gene set of another invertebrate from a different lineage than fruit flies and round worms, we show that the idea that vertebrate apoptosis pathways are more complex than invertebrates is incorrect,第一作者说。 大卫Plachetzki, associate professor of molecular, cellular and biomedical sciences at 主要研究. “事实上, we infer that the ancestor to all vertebrates and most invertebrates had complex apoptosis pathways, which were then reduced in complexity by gene loss in some invertebrates. So, we have overturned the idea that mammalian programed cell death complexity is a unique feature of our lineage and propose that this complexity evolved closer to the dawn of animals.”

的 纸 spans the academic generations of 主要研究 researchers: It drew on the long careers of research into cancer and apoptosis in softshell clams by emeritus professor 查克•沃克 名誉研究教授 迈克尔较小. 基因组生物学副教授 马特MacManes 对蛤的基因组进行测序, and Plachetzki and postdoctoral researcher Sabrina Pankey conducted the comparative study.

这项研究, 哪个是杂志的封面故事, demonstrates the importance of studying a wider range of laboratory model organisms, 说Plachetzki. “的 complexity in apoptosis pathways was already high at the origin of most animal lineages, but was simplified through gene loss in a particular branch of invertebrates that a lot of people study. 这项研究 also shows how relying on just a few standard laboratory model organisms can actually confound our understanding of biological complexity.”

这项研究得到了美国国家癌症研究所的支持, 美国国家科学基金会, 索尔顿斯托-肯尼迪基金, NH农业实验站Hatch基金和NH Sea基金.