Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence “Balance of the Microverse” have made a groundbreaking discovery in unicellular microalgae, which are the foundation of ocean food chains. They found that old cells can rejuvenate and divide again after reaching nutrient-rich areas in the oceans.
Unicellular organisms like microalgae reproduce through cell division, but when nutrients are exhausted, they stop dividing and age. However, currents transport these “old” cells to more nutritious areas, enabling renewed cell division.
The research team led by Dr. Yun Deng and Prof. Georg Pohnert discovered that old cells secrete vesicles, which remove harmful metabolic products and toxins, creating conditions for new cell division. This process is controlled by bacteria, which induce vesicle production through chemical signaling.
This finding has significant implications for our understanding of marine ecosystems and global biogeochemical cycles. The annual patterns of species composition in plankton are now explained by the rejuvenation mechanism, providing insight into the functioning of the global climate.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2024-08-rejuvenation-mechanism-unicellular.html