The organelle, a type of specialized structure, has been dubbed a “hemifusome” by its discoverers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. This little organelle has a big job helping our cells sort, recycle and discard important cargo within themselves, the scientists say. The new discovery could help scientists better understand what goes wrong in genetic conditions that disrupt these essential housekeeping functions.
“This is like discovering a new recycling center inside the cell,” said researcher Seham Ebrahim, PhD, of UVA’s Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics. “We think the hemifusome helps manage how cells package and process material, and when this goes wrong, it may contribute to diseases that affect many systems in the body.”
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UVA’s expertise in cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) – a powerful imaging method that “freezes” cells in time – to create striking images of the organelle.
The scientists believe hemifusomes facilitate the formation of vesicles, tiny blister-like sacs that act as mixing bowls, and of organelles made up of multiple vesicles. This process is critical to cellular sorting, recycling and debris disposal, the researchers report.
“You can think of vesicles like little delivery trucks inside the cell,” said Ebrahim, of UVA’s Center for Membrane and Cell Physiology. “The hemifusome is like a loading dock where they connect and transfer cargo. It’s a step in the process we didn’t know existed.”
While the hemifusomes have escaped detection until now, the scientists say they are surprisingly common in certain parts of our cells.
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“Now that we know hemifusomes exist, we can start asking how they behave in healthy cells and what happens when things go wrong. That could lead us to new strategies for treating complex genetic diseases.”
Findings Published
The researchers have published their findings in the scientific journal Nature Communications. The research team consisted of Amirrasoul Tavakoli, Shiqiong Hu, Ebrahim and Kachar.
The research was supported by the NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders, grant Z01-DC000002; the Owens Family Foundation; and a startup grant from UVA’s Center for Cell and Membrane Physiology.
Source: Scientists Discover Unknown Organelle Inside Our Cells
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