Give and Take

Communication between cells is fundamental to an organism's survival. They can do this by releasing small molecules which diffuse across to neighbouring cells, which can receive and respond to those messages. However, that might not be the only way. Here, researchers studied how various proteins and RNA molecules that can usually be found in a cell’s cytoplasm may be able to be passed between cells. By tracking a delivery in the form of a protein called Cas9 that caused a glow of bioluminescence on successful transfer, they found that cells in direct or close contact form physical tube connections between them allowing this cargo passage. This video shows the tubular connection form between the donor (green) and receiver (magenta) cells and parcels of Cas9 being transferred. This introduces a new concept of how cells communicate with one another, both when healthy but also potentially when it comes to cancer progression.

Written by Sophie Arthur

Sophie Arthur

former Science Communications Officer MRC LMS

Formerly a stem cell biologist, Sophie has since moved into science communication working at the MRC LMS. She also writes an award winning science and education blog Soph talks science.

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• Video from work by Congyan Zhang and Randy Schekman
• Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, CA, USA
• Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, March 2023