Understanding how aged and damaged mother cells manage to form new and undamaged daughter cells is one of the toughest riddles of ageing, but scientists now know how yeast cells do it. In a groundbreaking study researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, show how the daughter cell uses a mechanical "conveyor belt" to dump damaged proteins in the mother cell.
"This ensures that the daughter cell is born without age-related damage," says professor Thomas Nystr-m from the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology.
Thomas Nystr-m is a professor of microbiology at the University of Gothenburg and one of Sweden's leading researchers in the field of cellular and molecular biology. His research group has published countless scientific discoveries about cell ageing which have provided a new understanding of aging and age-related diseases. Now he and his colleagues have identified a key piece in the ageing puzzle.
Mechanic transport
In a study published as a feature article in the scientific journal Cell, two collaborating research groups at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology have been able to show how newly formed yeast cells transport damaged and aged proteins back to the mother cell, guaranteeing that the new cell is born young and healthy.
Mother dustbin
"Previously it was believed that these structures allowed only one-way traffic of proteins and organelles from mother cell to daughter cell," says Nystr-m. "We can now show that damaged proteins are transported in the opposite direction. In principle, this means that the daughter cell uses the mother cell as a dustbin for all the rubbish resulting from the ageing process, ensuring that the newly formed cell is born without age-related damage."
Conveyor belt