Biological complexity: cell plasticity alters functions (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, September 28, 2020, 18:58 (1517 days ago) @ David Turell

This is present in embryology and in immune systems which require altering cell functions:

https://phys.org/news/2020-09-method-cell-plasticity.html

"Cell plasticity is a property by which a cell can take on different and reversible identities. Cell plasticity is also essential for embryo development and for the correct function of the immune system. This property is also crucial in cancer as many cancer cells use it to gain resistance to chemotherapy and invade and colonize distant parts of the body.

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"'The identity of each cell type is defined by a particular gene expression program. What makes plastic cells special is that, in addition to their identity genes, they can express at low levels genes belonging to other cell identities. This sort of "background noise" is what allows them to change identity at a given time, and what was once "background noise" becomes the dominant genetic program," explains Serrano.

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"'We have observed that CDK8 inhibition strengthens the expression of genes that determine cell identity, and this occures at the expense of switching off the "background noise" of alternative identities. So the cells are fixed in a specific identity and they lose their plasticity," says Cian J Lynch, first author of the study and postdoctoral fellow in the same laboratory."

Comment: CDK8 is a very specific protein with very strong influence on how a cell develops its form and function. How did chance evolution find this specific molecule? Not ,likely. Design fits.