Building Bridges

It’s a classic ‘chicken-and-egg’ situation. Microtubules are small tubes that provide essential structure and transport routes for a whole variety of processes inside our cells. But during very early development our cells don’t have a centrosome – the structure that usually organises these microtubules, neatly laying them out across the cell to perform their functions. So how do they function without their guide steering them in the right direction? By looking at living cells in a developing mouse embryo that was modified to produce a fluorescent protein alongside its microtubules (pictured in blue), researchers spotted the answer: The cells are connected by dense bridges of microtubules (the light blue structures joining each cell), which direct the growth of more microtubules inside. Strands emanating out from these bridges reach across the cell to help transport key molecules that ultimately direct the growth from these few cells into a whole independent organism.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Image from work by J. Zenker and colleagues
• Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
• Image reprinted with permission from the AAAS - the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Published in Science, September 2017