Descripción del proyecto
Un estudio aclara cómo se forman los cristales moleculares intracelulares
Los cristales moleculares intracelulares formados en vesículas celulares especializadas —iridosomas— desempeñan un papel fundamental en la función celular. La incapacidad para controlar la formación de cristales podría afectar gravemente a un organismo, lo cual obstruiría capacidades fundamentales como la visión, la regulación de la temperatura corporal, el camuflaje y el reconocimiento del parentesco. Asimismo, los métodos actuales presentan limitaciones en cuanto a su capacidad para estudiar el modo en que los iridosomas llevan a cabo procesos químicos y biológicos tan complejos. El equipo del proyecto CRYSTALCELL, financiado con fondos europeos, combina conocimientos de química y biología celular para estudiar los procesos que subyacen a la formación controlada de cristales intracelulares. Los hallazgos del proyecto allanarán el camino para desarrollar nuevos biomateriales y terapias contra la cristalización patológica.
Objetivo
From vision in teleost fish to the spectacular colors reflected from reptiles and crustaceans, intracellular molecular crystals play vital roles in the function of cells and the ecology of organisms. These crystals are formed in specialized cellular vesicles termed iridosomes, where their properties are controlled in ways that cannot be matched by modern technology. Failure to control crystal formation can be deleterious to organisms, obstructing fundamental abilities, such as vision, body temperature regulation, camouflage, and kin recognition, and underlying pathologies such as gout and kidney stones in humans. Exploring the fascinating ability of iridosomes to perform such elaborate chemical and biological processes has thus far been limited by the technical inability to study this complex organelle.
To obtain a mechanistic understating of the processes and principles underlying the controlled formation of intracellular crystals, we will harness our unique interdisciplinary set of skills, merging chemistry and cell biology, as well as new approaches combining state-of-the-art imaging and spectroscopy we recently developed. We will use this synergetic experimental platform to identify the molecular players, ultrastructural events (Aim 1) and intracellular mechanisms (Aim 2) underlying intracellular crystal formation in the zebrafish, and then generalize the discoveries to other crystal-forming organisms (Aim 3).
Our project will provide a holistic view of the iridosome mechanism of action, the strategies organisms use to form and control bio-molecular crystals, and the biological processes, intracellular organelles, proteins and regulatory mechanisms involved. The obtained mechanistic insight into these processes will advance the understanding of the effect of ocean acidification on crystal formation in marine organisms, and pave the way for developing new biomaterials and much needed therapeutics for pathological crystallization.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Institución de acogida
7610001 Rehovot
Israel