From left to right, the experts Santiago Ambrosio, Caroline Mauvezin, Albert Tauler and Eugènia Almacellas.
Alterations in the separation of chromosomes during cell division (mitosis) cause a morphology in the cell nucleus that could help researchers identify the cells that show chromosomic instability. This is one of the main conclusions in a study published in the journal Autophagy, by a research team of the University of Barcelona and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL).
The study, led by the researcher Caroline Mauvezin (IDIBELL), focuses on the study of the involvement of lysosome (organelles that recycle or remove components of the cell) during the cell division process. According to the conclusions, during he mitosis, there are proteins that will be degraded by lysosomes, but the wrong functioning of these cell organelles can cause errors in the separation of the chromosomes, and therefore, can cause a chromosomic instability.
According to the expert Eugènia Almacellas, first author of the study and member of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the UB and IDIBELL, "mitosis is a fast process that takes place in a short time, and this makes it challenging for researchers to detect errors in such a small proportion at a specific time".
The study, which identifies more than a hundred new proteins specifically degraded by lysosomes during mitosis, sets new bases for the study of the mechanisms that cause degradation of the mitotic proteins that are essential to prevent chromosomic instability.
Other participants in this study are the professors Albert Tauler, from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, and Santiago Ambrosio, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the UB.
