Mechanism Discovery lends understanding of Cellular Functioning

For regeneration to occur, cells need to divide, but at the same time the cell must also release its adhesion to the surrounding tissue structure holding it place. The essential link that enables this process in humans has now been uncovered by researchers at the University of Kent’s School of Biosciences and the University of Manchester. This discovery has profound potential for advancing understanding of cell adhesion signalling in cancerous tumour progression and metastasis.

The researchers found that CDK1, the master regulator of the cell cycle binds directly to, and modifies, the core protein talin that is essential to the process of cell adhesion.  – An indication of a unifying mechanism by which the processes of cell division and adhesion are controlled.

 Dr Ben Goult, Reader in Biochemistry at the University of Kent and a Principal Investigator of the paper said: ‘The potential of this discovery is huge as it provides a new understanding of how cell division is coordinated within the confines of a complex multicellular organism. Cell division needs to be tightly coupled to the cell adhesion to allow our cells to divide without disrupting the integrity of our tissues and organs. This research is vital in our understanding of other cellular diseases and of cancer’s ability to spread within the human body.’

This research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Human Frontiers Science Program and Cancer Research UK.

The paper, ‘Talin mechanosensitivity is modulated by a direct interaction with cyclin-dependent kinase-1’, is published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (University of Kent – Dr Rosemarie E.Gough, Dr Benjamin T.Goult; University of Manchester -  Dr Matthew C.Jones, Dr Thomas Zacharchenko, Dr Jonathan D.Humphries, Prof Martin J.Humphries; Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute - Dr Claus Jørgensen; National University of Singapore – Dr Shimin Le, Dr Miao Yu, Prof Jie Yan; Åbo Akademi University – Dr Guillaume Jacquemet; University of Leeds – Dr Ste P.Muench).

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