* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Saturday, July 19, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Theater at Santa Fe’s San Isidro Plaza will be converted into IMAX, family entertainment venue – Santa Fe New Mexican

    Santa Fe’s San Isidro Plaza Theater Transforms into Exciting IMAX Family Entertainment Venue

    B&B Theatres will open massive entertainment complex in Texas – The Business Journals

    B&B Theatres will open massive entertainment complex in Texas – The Business Journals

    Rough times for broadcast networks illustrate changing media landscape – New Haven Register

    Broadcast Networks Confront Turbulent Times in a Rapidly Changing Media Landscape

    Black River Entertainment Adds Traci Hite As Director Of Promotion, Southeast – MusicRow.com

    Black River Entertainment Welcomes Traci Hite as New Director of Southeast Promotion

    Entertainment Business Master’s Grad Launched Nonprofit to Nurture Emerging Artists – Full Sail University

    Entertainment Business Master’s Grad Launched Nonprofit to Nurture Emerging Artists – Full Sail University

    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

    A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

    Simpson College to purchase medical simulation technology with grant funds – Iowa Capital Dispatch

    Simpson College to purchase medical simulation technology with grant funds – Iowa Capital Dispatch

    SailGP Technologies officially launches new center of excellence in technology & innovation – Sail-World.com

    SailGP Technologies officially launches new center of excellence in technology & innovation – Sail-World.com

    Victorville’s new gunfire-detecting technology already making strides, city says – NBC Los Angeles

    Victorville’s New Gunfire-Detecting Technology Is Already Making a Difference, City Officials Say

    Guest columnist: China cutting corners on technology – The State Journal

    China’s Rapid Tech Advances Spark Worries About Cutting Corners

    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF technology integrated into Rafael’s combat-proven Drone Dome system – Defence Industry Europe

    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF Technology Boosts Rafael’s Battle-Tested Drone Dome System

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Theater at Santa Fe’s San Isidro Plaza will be converted into IMAX, family entertainment venue – Santa Fe New Mexican

    Santa Fe’s San Isidro Plaza Theater Transforms into Exciting IMAX Family Entertainment Venue

    B&B Theatres will open massive entertainment complex in Texas – The Business Journals

    B&B Theatres will open massive entertainment complex in Texas – The Business Journals

    Rough times for broadcast networks illustrate changing media landscape – New Haven Register

    Broadcast Networks Confront Turbulent Times in a Rapidly Changing Media Landscape

    Black River Entertainment Adds Traci Hite As Director Of Promotion, Southeast – MusicRow.com

    Black River Entertainment Welcomes Traci Hite as New Director of Southeast Promotion

    Entertainment Business Master’s Grad Launched Nonprofit to Nurture Emerging Artists – Full Sail University

    Entertainment Business Master’s Grad Launched Nonprofit to Nurture Emerging Artists – Full Sail University

    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

    A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

    Simpson College to purchase medical simulation technology with grant funds – Iowa Capital Dispatch

    Simpson College to purchase medical simulation technology with grant funds – Iowa Capital Dispatch

    SailGP Technologies officially launches new center of excellence in technology & innovation – Sail-World.com

    SailGP Technologies officially launches new center of excellence in technology & innovation – Sail-World.com

    Victorville’s new gunfire-detecting technology already making strides, city says – NBC Los Angeles

    Victorville’s New Gunfire-Detecting Technology Is Already Making a Difference, City Officials Say

    Guest columnist: China cutting corners on technology – The State Journal

    China’s Rapid Tech Advances Spark Worries About Cutting Corners

    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF technology integrated into Rafael’s combat-proven Drone Dome system – Defence Industry Europe

    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF Technology Boosts Rafael’s Battle-Tested Drone Dome System

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Mystery Solved: Scientists Uncover Origins of Enigmatic Swirling Movements in Some of Nature’s Largest Cells

April 21, 2024
in Science
Mystery Solved: Scientists Uncover Origins of Enigmatic Swirling Movements in Some of Nature’s Largest Cells
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Simulation of How Microtubules Bend and Direct Material in a Maturing Egg Cell

Recent research has unveiled the natural mechanisms behind ‘twister-like’ flows in egg cells, essential for efficient nutrient distribution. These findings, achieved through advanced modeling and experimental approaches, offer new insights into cellular transport and could impact broader biological research. A snapshot from a simulation of how microtubules bend and direct material in a maturing egg cell into a twister-like flow. Credit: S. Dutta et al.

New research conducted by scientists at the Flatiron Institute has uncovered the origins of enigmatic swirling movements in some of nature’s largest cells.

Egg cells are the largest single cells on the planet. Their size — often several to hundreds of times the size of a typical cell — allows them to grow into entire organisms, but it also makes it difficult to transport nutrients and other molecules around the cell. Scientists have long known that maturing egg cells, called oocytes, generate internal, twister-like fluid flows to transport nutrients, but how those flows arise in the first place has been a mystery.

Now, research led by computational scientists at the Flatiron Institute, along with collaborators at Princeton and Northwestern universities, has revealed that these flows — which look like microscopic tornados — arise organically from the interactions of a few cellular components. Their work, published in the April issue of Nature Physics, used theory, advanced computer modeling, and experiments with fruit fly egg cells to uncover the twisters’ mechanics. The results are helping scientists better understand foundational questions about egg cell development and cellular transport.

“Our findings represent a big leap in this field,” says co-author Michael Shelley, director of the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Biology (CCB). “We were able to apply advanced numerical techniques from other research that we’ve been developing for years, which allow us a much better look at this issue than has ever been possible before.”

The Role of Twister Flows in Nutrient Distribution

In a typical human cell, it takes only 10 to 15 seconds for a typical protein molecule to meander from one side of the cell to the other via diffusion; in a small bacterial cell, this trip can happen in just a single second. But in the fruit fly egg cells studied here, diffusion alone would take an entire day — much too long for the cell to function properly. Instead, these egg cells have developed ‘twister flows’ that circle around the interior of the oocyte to distribute proteins and nutrients quickly, just as a tornado can pick up and move material much farther and quicker than wind alone.

In this looping video of an oocyte cell, material can be seen circulating and helping distribute nutrients throughout the growing cell. Credit: S. Dutta et al.

“After it’s fertilized, the oocyte will become the future animal,” says study co-author Sayantan Dutta, a researcher at Princeton and the CCB. “If you destroy the flow in the oocyte, the resulting embryo doesn’t develop.”

The researchers used an advanced open-source biophysics software package called SkellySim developed by Flatiron Institute researchers. With SkellySim, they modeled the cellular components involved in creating the twisters. These include microtubules — flexible filaments that line the inside of a cell — and molecular motors, which are specialized proteins that serve as cellular workhorses, carrying special groups of molecules known as payloads. Scientists aren’t exactly sure what these payloads are made of, but they play a key role in generating the flows.

The researchers simulated the motion of thousands of microtubules as they responded to the forces exerted by payload-carrying molecular motors. By going back and forth between experiments and their simulations, the researchers were able to understand the structure of the twister flows and how they arose from the interaction between the cellular fluid and microtubules.

“Our theoretical work allows us to zoom in and actually measure and visualize these twisters in 3D,” says study co-author and CCB research scientist Reza Farhadifar. “We saw how these microtubules can generate large-scale flows just through self-organization, without any external cues.”

Microtubules Swirling Flow Simulation

In this looping video of an oocyte cell, material can be seen circulating and helping distribute nutrients throughout the growing cell. Credit: S. Dutta et al.

Implications and Future Research

The models revealed that inside the oocyte, microtubules buckle under the force of the molecular motors. When a microtubule buckles or bends under this load, it causes the surrounding fluid to move, which can reorient other microtubules. In a large enough group of bending microtubules, all the microtubules bend in the same direction, and the fluid flows become ‘cooperative.’ With the microtubules collectively bent, the moving payloads create a whirlpool or twister-like flow across the whole egg, helping molecules disperse around the cell. With the twisters, molecules can travel across the cell in 20 minutes instead of 20 hours.

“The model showed the system has an incredible capacity for organizing itself to create this functional flow,” Shelley says. “And you just need a few ingredients — only microtubules, the geometry of the cell, and molecular motors carrying payloads.”

The new findings lay the foundation for a better understanding of egg cell development. The results could also help demystify material transport in other cell types.

“Now that we know how these twisters form, we can ask deeper questions, like how do they mix the molecules inside the cell?” Farhadifar says. “This opens a new dialogue between theory and experiment.”

The new work provides a fresh look at microtubules, Dutta says. Microtubules play a central role in various cell types and cell functions — such as cell division — across almost all eukaryotic organisms, such as plants and animals. That makes them “a very important part of a cell’s toolbox,” Dutta says. “In better understanding their mechanisms, I think our model will help drive the development in a lot of other really interesting problems in cellular biophysics.”

Reference: “Self-organized intracellular twisters” by Sayantan Dutta, Reza Farhadifar, Wen Lu, Gokberk Kabacaoğlu, Robert Blackwell, David B. Stein, Margot Lakonishok, Vladimir I. Gelfand, Stanislav Y. Shvartsman and Michael J. Shelley, 25 January 2024, Nature Physics.
DOI: 10.1038/s41567-023-02372-1

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : SciTechDaily – https://scitechdaily.com/mystery-solved-scientists-uncover-origins-of-enigmatic-swirling-movements-in-some-of-natures-largest-cells/

Tags: mysteryscienceSolved
Previous Post

NASA’s PACE Data Is Redefining Our View of Earth’s Climate and Oceans

Next Post

“Bizarre” Patterns Unearthed – Cambridge Study Challenges Traditional Views on Human Origins

A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

July 18, 2025
Dave Portnoy unites FOX Sports and Barstool with new football, basketball coverage deal – Fox News

Dave Portnoy unites FOX Sports and Barstool with new football, basketball coverage deal – Fox News

July 18, 2025
To see and not be seen: Carangids hide behind sharks to prey on fish – Cattano – 2025 – Ecology – ESA Journals

Mastering the Art of Stealth: How Carangids Turn Sharks into Living Shields to Outsmart Their Prey

July 18, 2025
Science labs move ‘a hammer blow’, says MP – Yahoo

Science labs move ‘a hammer blow’, says MP – Yahoo

July 18, 2025
American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history – Big Think

America’s Science Community Confronts Its Biggest Brain Drain in History

July 18, 2025
Longhorns Daily News: Austin’s fast-paced lifestyle helped inspire former Texas WR Brenen Thompson to transfer to new school – Burnt Orange Nation

Longhorns Daily News: Austin’s fast-paced lifestyle helped inspire former Texas WR Brenen Thompson to transfer to new school – Burnt Orange Nation

July 18, 2025
China’s path to world dominance is being laid by President Trump’s policies, including in Alaska – Alaska Beacon

China’s path to world dominance is being laid by President Trump’s policies, including in Alaska – Alaska Beacon

July 18, 2025
Wall Street’s Big 7 Are Now Bigger Than China’s Entire Economy – MSN

Wall Street’s 7 Biggest Titans Now Outpace the Entire Chinese Economy

July 18, 2025
Bad Bunny, Travis Scott, Saweetie, and All the Songs You Need to Know This Week – Yahoo

Bad Bunny, Travis Scott, Saweetie, and This Week’s Must-Listen Hits

July 18, 2025
‘I just couldn’t stop crying’: How prison affects Black men’s mental health long after they’ve been released – The Conversation

I Just Couldn’t Stop Crying’: The Deep and Lasting Impact of Prison on Black Men’s Mental Health

July 18, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (727)
  • Economy (750)
  • Entertainment (21,635)
  • General (15,970)
  • Health (9,788)
  • Lifestyle (758)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (752)
  • Politics (760)
  • Science (15,967)
  • Sports (21,248)
  • Technology (15,733)
  • World (734)

Recent News

A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

July 18, 2025
Dave Portnoy unites FOX Sports and Barstool with new football, basketball coverage deal – Fox News

Dave Portnoy unites FOX Sports and Barstool with new football, basketball coverage deal – Fox News

July 18, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version