Gene activity: spacial orientation vs. quantity of transcript molecules

Today, gene activity is studied and measured by analyzing the amount of transcript molecules within a cell. For the first time, it has been found that the spatial organization of the gene transcript molecules is more helpful in determining gene activity than is the amount of these highly specified molecules. When genes are activated within a cell, transcript molecules are produced to make the gene able to perform its specific function. These transcript molecules are also known as mRNA. There are many different types of mRNA, or transcript molecules, that can bring the information from the activated gene inside the nucleus to the cytoplasm of the cell so that the specific protein can be made. This protein is made so that the function specific to the activated gene can be completed. This breakthrough, made by the biologists from the University of Zurich under Professor Lucas Pelkmans, will help us in the comprehension of the gene activity in single cancerous tumor cells.

This project was made possible through the assistance of robots, an automated fluorescence microscope, and a supercomputer named Brutus. The robots are used to stain the transcript molecules while the fluorescent microscope causes these molecules to glow. The supercomputer, Brutus (in this case) is then used to analyze these glowing molecules. This process makes it possible to study the spatial organization of one thousand genes in ten thousand different cells at once. Being able to study the spatial organization of these transcript molecules was not possible until this point in time. With this project, it was also found that certain cells act differently depending on the gene activity and ultimately the spatial orientation within that particular cell. These biologists had expected to have seen more of an impact in the gene activity by the quantity of transcript molecules that existed but instead, they found that the spatial organization of the transcript molecules varied much more. This concept can apply to a single cell or multiple cells.

This realization was crucial because now, the individual function of genes can be determined based on the specific mRNA, or transcript molecule's spatial orientation. This can furthermore be important in cancer research because it is easier to target the genes that are malfunctioning and causing cancer to persist.

I found this experiment extremely important and interesting. For so long researchers were focused on the wrong concept of specialized transcript cells. This might have been one of the reasons why cancer research is constantly at such a stand still. Maybe with the realization that the transcript molecule's spatial orientation being more vital than the quantity of these molecules, it will be easier to find a cure for cancer. I am very hopeful that this finding will ultimately aid to ending the eternal struggle with this deadly disease as well as others.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131006161357.htm
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/gene-expression-14121669