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Steps in adult stem cell differentiation 'identified' |
| Date Added: September 13, 2008 01:24:38 PM |
| Author: Press Trust of India |
| Category: Research |
| New York, Sept 13 (PTI) Researchers claim to have identified two early steps in adult stem cell differentiation -- the process that determines whether cells will form muscle, neurons or skin in humans and animals. In their study, a team at Utah University used the molecular equivalent of a tattoo on DNA which adult stem cells (ASC) pass to their "daughter" cells in combination with gene expression profiles. The researchers have identified 259 genes that help defined the earliest steps in the differentiation of adult stem cells in planarians -- tiny flatworms that can regenerate cells, the 'Cell-Stem Cell' journal reported. "This allows us to study an entire stem cell population in its own environment. It's likely that what we learned here can be applied to our own stem cell biology," said Snchez Alvarado, the study's senior author. Planarians share similar biology with humans in many ways. They also, for reasons unknown, regenerate cells unlike any other animalan entirely new worm can form from just a fragment of another worm. The team marked adult stem cells in the worms by injecting BrdU, a synthetic nucleotide that binds with DNA and leaves an unmistakable mark on it, much like a tattoo. When the adult stem cells divided into daughter cells as part of the worms' normal cell regeneration, the BrdU was passed to the daughter cells in their DNA, allowing the researchers to track these cells. |
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