What brain-eating amoebae can tell us about the diversity of life on
earth and evolutionary history

Date:
February 25, 2022
Source:
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Summary:
Researchers recently announced that an amoeba called Naegleria
has evolved more distinct sets of tubulins, used for specific
cellular processes, than previously thought. Their insight has a
host of implications, which range from developing treatments for
brain-eating infections to better understanding how life on earth
evolved such enormous diversity.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
An international team of researchers, led by the University of
Massachusetts Amherst, recently announced in the journal Current
Biologythat an amoeba called Naegleria has evolved more distinct sets
of tubulins, used for specific cellular processes, than previously
thought. Their insight has a host of implications, which range from
developing treatments for brain-eating infections to better understanding
how life on earth evolved such enormous diversity.


==========================================================================
Much of life on earth relies on a series of polymers called microtubules, composed of tubulin, to complete a wide range of tasks inside their cells.

These microtubules are like the 2x4s of the cell and are used in
everything from helping the cell to move, to transporting food and waste
within the cell and giving the cell structural support.

Microtubules also help in mitosis, which is when a single cell divides
into two by first duplicating its chromosomes and then pulling each set
to opposite sides of the cell before dividing itself in two. One of the
key moments in mitosis is when a spindle, made up of microtubules, grabs
hold of the chromosomes and helps separate them into two identical sets.

This is where Naegleria comes in. Biologists had previously known that Naegleria uses a specific kind of tubulin during mitosis. But the new
study, led by Katrina Velle, a postdoc in biology at UMass Amherst
and the paper's lead author, shows that Naegleria also employs three
additional distinct tubulins specifically during mitosis. One pair of
tubulins are used only during mitosis, while the other, the flagellate
tubulin, specialize in cellular movement. The authors of the study then compared the tubulins and the structures they build to each other and
those of more commonly studied species.

The implications of this work are exciting and range from the practical to
the theoretical. For instance, the team studied a species of Naegleria, Naegleria gruberi, which is closely related to Naegleria fowleri -- an
amoeba that can eat your brain. "If we can understand the basic biology
of Naegleria," says Velle, "we can learn how to kill it by devising drugs
that target the amoeba's unique tubulins." But Naegleria also helps us
to understand the basic rules that govern life on earth. "All organisms
have to replicate themselves," says Lillian Fritz-Laylin, professor of
biology at UMass Amherst and a senior author of the paper. "We know how
the replication processes works for some cells, but there's a huge set
that we don't understand. Naegleria lets us test the rules scientists have
come up with to see if they hold here." To conduct their research, the
team relied in part on the state-of-the-art microscopy equipment at UMass Amherst's Institute for the Applied Life Sciences (IALS), which combines
deep and interdisciplinary expertise from 29 departments on the UMass
Amherst campus to translate fundamental research into innovations that
benefit human health and well-being. The team grew the Naegleria cells,
stained them with different chemicals so that the tubulins would glow,
and then took extremely high resolution, 3-D photographs, which allowed
them to measure, count and analyze the different microtubule structures.

"I've spent most of my career studying the mitotic spindles of more
common cells, like mammalian cells," says Patricia Wadsworth, professor
of biology at UMass Amherst and one of the paper's senior authors. "The
tools of modern biology allow us to explore more diverse cells, like
Naegleria, which is in some ways similar, but also very different."
The research has been supported by a prominent, international set of institutions, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute
of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, the
Smith Family Foundation Award for Excellence in Biomedical Science,
the National Science Foundation, the Croatian Science Foundation, the
European Research Council, the European Regional Development Fund --
the Competitiveness and Cohesion Operational Programme: QuantiXLie Center
of Excellence and IPSted, as well as the Robert A. Welch Foundation.

"People often think of technology driving science," says
Fritz-Laylin. "But in this case, the questions we are trying to
answer are so fundamental to how life on earth operates, and of
such interest to so many scientific specialties, that we needed
to assemble an international team of various experts. In this case, collaboration, teamwork and effective communication drove the science."
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dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_Massachusetts_Amherst. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Katrina B. Velle, Andrew S. Kennard, Monika Trupinić,
Arian Ivec,
Andrew J.M. Swafford, Emily Nolton, Luke M. Rice, Iva M. Tolić,
Lillian K. Fritz-Laylin, Patricia Wadsworth. Naegleria's mitotic
spindles are built from unique tubulins and highlight core spindle
features.

Current Biology, 2022; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.01.034 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220225085843.htm

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