Scientists from the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology with colleagues from the International Institute of Molecular Mechanisms and Machines (IMol) PAS and the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics PAS, have discovered that worm muscle cells can produce exophers – vesicles that remove damaged proteins from the outside of the cell.
Scientists from the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology with colleagues from the International Institute of Molecular Mechanisms and Machines (IMol) PAS and the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the PAS, have discovered that worm muscle cells can produce exophers – vesicles that remove damaged proteins from the outside of the cell. Surprisingly, researchers found that the development of embryos in the uterus triggers the formation of exopher in muscle tissue. Consequently, the offspring of mothers with a large number of muscle exophers grows faster.
These breakthroughs are featured on the cover of the August issue of “EMBO reports” and in the News & Views section. The authors of the publication are Michał Turek (head of the research group at IBB), Katarzyna Banasiak, Małgorzata Piechota, Nilesh Shanmugam, Matylda Macias, Małgorzata Alicja Śliwińska, Marta Niklewicz, Konrad Kowalski, Natalia Nowak, Agnieszka Chacińska (director of the IMol Institute and head of the research group at the Warsaw University), Wojciech Pokrzywa (research leader at IIMCB).
Full version of the article:
https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/embr.202052071
Schematic representation of the results of the study. Muscles can expel cellular content via robust exophers. Exopher formation is sex-specific and fertility-dependent. Muscular exopheresis is a non-cell autonomous process regulated by in utero developing embryos. Insufficient food for embryos induces exopheresis. Exophers serve as transporters for muscle-generated yolk proteins that could be used for nourishing the next generation. (Author W. Pokrzywa. Made with Biorender software).
