Cellular Communication through Light

Information transfer is a fundamental of life. A few studies have reported that cells use photons (from an endogenous source) as information carriers. This study finds that cells can have an influence on other cells even when separated with a glass barrier, thereby disabling molecule diffusion through the cell-containing medium. As there is still very little known about the potential of photons for intercellular communication this study is designed to test for non-molecule-based triggering of two fundamental properties of life: cell division and energy uptake. The study was performed with a cellular organism, the ciliate Paramecium caudatum. Mutual exposure of cell populations occurred under conditions of darkness and separation with cuvettes (vials) allowing photon but not molecule transfer. The cell populations were separated either with glass allowing photon transmission from 340 nm to longer waves, or quartz being transmittable from 150 nm, i.e. from UV-light to longer waves. Even through glass, the cells affected cell division and energy uptake in neighboring cell populations. Depending on the cuvette material and the number of cells involved, these effects were positive or negative. Also, while paired populations with lower growth rates grew uncorrelated, growth of the better growing populations was correlated. As there were significant differences when separating the populations with glass or quartz, it is suggested that the cell populations use two (or more) frequencies for cellular information transfer, which influences at least energy uptake, cell division rate and growth correlation. Altogether the study strongly supports a cellular communication system, which is different from a molecule-receptor-based system and hints that photon-triggering is a fine tuning principle in cell chemistry

mRNA accumulation in the Cajal bodies of the diplotene larch microsporocyte

In microsporocytes of the European larch, we demonstrated the presence of several mRNAs in spherical nuclear bodies. In the nuclei of microsporocytes, we observed up to 12 bodies, ranging from 0.5 to 6 μm in diameter, during the prophase of the first meiotic division. Our previous studies revealed the presence of polyadenylated RNA (poly(A) RNA) in these bodies, but did not confirm the presence of nascent transcripts or splicing factors of the SR family. The lack of these molecules precludes the bodies from being the sites of synthesis and early maturation of primary transcripts (Kołowerzo et al., Protoplasma 236:13–19, 2009). However, the bodies serve as sites for the accumulation of splicing machinery, including the Sm proteins and small nuclear RNAs. Characteristic ultrastructures and the molecular composition of the nuclear bodies, which contain poly(A) RNA, are indicative of Cajal bodies (CBs). Here, we demonstrated the presence of several housekeeping gene transcripts—α-tubulin, pectin methylesterase, peroxidase and catalase, ATPase, and inositol-3-phosphate synthase—in CBs. Additionally, we observed transcripts of the RNA polymerase II subunits RPB2 and RPB10 RNA pol II and the core spliceosome proteins mRNA SmD1, SmD2, and SmE. The co-localization of nascent transcripts and mRNAs indicates that mRNA accumulation/storage, particularly in CBs, occurs in the nucleus of microsporocytes