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Centrosomes serve as a compass for the division of brain stem cells

By 15 de April de 2010November 18th, 2020No Comments
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 15.04.2010

Centrosomes serve as a compass for the division of brain stem cells

In Drosophila melanogaster larvae, brain stem cells are called neuroblasts that, upon division, generate another stem cell and a glanglion mother cell (GMC) that is committed to differentiation. Later, the GMC specialises in neuron or glial cell (cells that support neurons). This cell division strategy, called asymmetric mitosis, allows stem cells to produce large amounts of tissue in a relatively long period of time. In the fly these cell divisions occur following a predetermined pattern, in such a way that the daughter GMCs always emerge in the same fixed site of neuroblasts throughout successive generations. Jens Januschke and Cayetano González, both scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), have discovered that microtubules and centrosomes, organelles that govern some cell division processes, participate in memorizing this orientation over successive generations. The study has been published in the first issue of March of the Journal of Cell Biology, edited by Rockefeller University Press.

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