cellular intelligence: information flow (Evolution)

by David Turell , Saturday, October 17, 2020, 15:26 (1496 days ago) @ dhw

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6514/306.2

Each human cell has an information network like a subway system underpinning the function of one of the world's major cities. Instead of human couriers, within our cells, messenger RNAs (mRNAs) carry information. Thousands of mRNAs emerge from the cell's nucleus with instructions for cellular functions and disappear into the cytoplasm when their duties are fulfilled. Because of the development of single-cell sequencing techniques, we are now very good at counting these messengers, which are specific to each cell type in our body. Qiu et al. developed a new method to watch the movement of mRNAs. The technique can distinguish newly synthesized mRNAs from older ones and track each mRNA with a specific tag. This method provides a picture of the information flow inside cells and shows how they become disrupted by genetic perturbations that can cause cancer.

Comment: Amazing. Messenger RNA can be watched and followed. Each cell nucleus is in automatic control of the factory output using its information content.