Advances in imaging technology and recent discoveries have helped transform scientists’ understanding of the inner workings of cells.
A March 11, 2019 article in Nature discussed several recent discoveries on the interactions between organelles—subunits of cells that serve specific functions and include the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria—that indicate they’re constantly communicating and working together.
Among the experts highlighted was Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, James S. Simmons Professor of Genetics and Metabolism at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of the Sabri Ülker Center for Nutrient, Genetic and Metabolic Research. Hotamışlıgil likened the interactions between the ER and mitochondria in healthy cells to an elegant flamenco performance. “[They come into] contact and separate, and then come into contact again, and flirt a little bit and go away,” he said.
In diseased liver cells, however, the ER and mitochondria remain entwined and the interactions aren’t so sleek. “It doesn’t look very elegant,” he said. “You can’t slow-dance flamenco—and that’s how the mitochondria–ER relationship becomes under metabolic stress.”
Read the Nature article: How secret conversations inside cells are transforming biology