Researchers identify a new gene involved in autophagy, the cellular recycling program
Thursday, January 21, 2010 - 14:42
in Biology & Nature
All cells are equipped with a recycling programme to collect and remove unnecessary cellular components. Autophagy sequesters and digests aged organelles, damaged proteins and other components, which, if not disintegrated and recycled, threaten cell viability. Researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona, Spain) led by Antonio Zorzano, head of the Molecular Medicine Programme and senior professor of the University of Barcelona, have identified a new gene that favours cell autophagy. The article has been published in EMBO Reports, which highlights it in the section "Hot off the press".