The genes may turn on and off in a different way then known during their development. Biologists at the Thomas Jefferson University’s Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia perhaps have discovered this new way of the genes’ activities.
The findings were made within the cells of fruit flies. And if the observation is right and the same processes work in higher organisms - including humans — as well, it could eventually be applied to improve the understanding of a range of diseases, like childhood cancer.
Alexander Mazo, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Jefferson Medical College, Svetlana Petruk, Ph.D. said,
We think that this new mechanism operates early in embryogenesis. Such mechanisms are known in bacteria and yeast, but not much is known in higher organisms.
Explaining the mechanism, Dr. Mazo forther said,
Importantly, non-coding RNAs are very tightly developmentally regulated, as we show in case of bxd RNAs. These create an enormous potential to regulate the neighboring coding genes in a time- and tissue-specific manner. This is a new type of transcriptional regulation mechanism for higher eukaryotes, and it is very likely that it is conserved in mammals.
ALL is thought to be a disease of misregulated HOX genes.
Dr. Mazo and his team looks forward to ultimately better understanding of the early stages of such development.
