Journal of Cell Science & Therapy
Open Access

Cell Nucleus Innovations

The nucleus is an organelle found in eukaryotic cells. Inside its fully enclosed nuclear membrane, it contains the majority of the cell's genetic material. This material is organized as DNA molecules, along with a variety of proteins, to form chromosomes.

"You need to understand the system so that when it's broken, you know how to fix it," says Ben Montpetit, senior author of the study and an assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology at the U of A. "I often use the analogy of a mechanic. If your car breaks down, you bring it to the mechanic because they understand how the car works, where to look and how to diagnose the issue. But if they didn't understand how the car works and, say, your car didn't start, would the mechanic spend an hour looking at the ashtray?"

"We really need to understand the system, and this technology is allowing us to do that now," adds Azra Lari, lead author of the study and a PhD candidate in the Department of Cell Biology.Until now, scientists observing how RNA travelled from the nucleus would rely on a still image, giving them only a static snapshot of what was happening. New technology developed for the study allowed the research team to observe particles nanometres in size--a billionth of a metre--over just milliseconds in a living yeast cell. By recording the events, they observed the route and time taken for the RNA to be transported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, where it is then used to encode proteins--the workhorses of the cell. They also observed how that changed after introducing a mutation into the system.