Ryan Swenson

“Article Summary”

            On January 2^nd, 2014, scientists have been working with fruit flies to further our understanding of one of the worst diseases to this day, cancer. Cancer kills millions of people each year. Fruit flies are used in many different scientific applications because of their quick generation times amongst other reasons. Dr. James Wakefield, Daniel Hayward, and Dr. Jeremey Metz, were the main scientists that were involved with this study. They were working at the University of Exeter, and discovered that when cells go through division they express a lot of room for change and are quite flexible in doing so. This has a good chance of helping understand some of the early causes of cancer in the cells. The process first looks at the roots that help move organelles through routes.

            These roots are specifically called microtubule spindles. They occur and aid in the cell where the DNA separates during cell division, resulting in two new cells. The study showed that there were numerous routes in the way that these spindles would form. The next step was to really visualize what was happening, and they did so by using very in-depth, detailed images, that specifically looked at manipulating genes and proteins of the fruit fly. This is a new and novel way of helping to understand the way that cancer develops early on, and the pathways are pivotal to visualize development.

            These researchers discovered that there were multiple paths in which the spindles could be formed. When they would remove one of these paths, they also discovered that it would increase the likelihood of one of the other pathways that develop these microtubule spindles. And in studying these pathways, this team found a protein that was common throughout each one, augmin. This whole study is all new understanding of how the spindle can form in many different ways in fruit flies. Before this research, it was unknown.

Previously, scientists everywhere assumed that the microtubule spindles would form from the centrosomes and then split when the chromosomes get separated and a new cell forms, but now their ideas have been altered. The research shows that the spindles can form from actual chromosomes themselves, as well as some other parts of the main body of a cell. None of this was known until this experiment was done.

            Augmin, as mentioned earlier, as the common protein found in all these pathways for spindle formation, is a factor of the microtubule spindle that needs to be present in order for these to form. This was an interesting part that the scientists discovered.

            These researchers now think that cancer may be caused from disruptions of some of these pathways. When none of them are disturbed, it could now mean that you have a lower risk of acquiring cancer. And conversely, if many of these pathways are destroyed, than you could be at a higher risk for cancer. This makes sense because you then have fewer ways that the microtubule spindles can form, and thus be more susceptible to errors in cell division that could lead to cancerous cells that begin to divide and grow into tumors.

            As promising as this study is beginning to look, it is however all theoretical at this point. Dr. James Wakefield and the group plan to further investigate this process and see if it can lead to better understand one of the worst diseases that is affecting the human population to this day.

MLA citation- Association for International Cancer Research. "Using fruit flies to help understand cancer."ScienceDaily, 22 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
(I don't know how to double space, sorry. It's 2-pages though)