Scientists have found a gene that regulates how organs are formed in the roundworm, a discovery that could enhance the development of laboratory-grown organs.
"We identified a gene that controls organ shape," said Judith Kimble, a professor of biotechnology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
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"It's clearly a speculation that this will control organ shape in mammalian tissue, but the fact that it does so in worms, I think, makes a very clear prediction that it would in vertebrates as well."
Kimble and her colleagues found the gene and protein, dubbed GON-1, in the roundworm known as Caenorhabditis elegans.
This lowly worm has already provided scientists with clues about diabetes, the aging process, and cancer.
Kimble's research, which was published in the science journal Nature on Wednesday, showed that GON-1 is responsible for shaping the worm's gonad, an intricate reproductive organ.
Kimble said the findings were important for two reasons.
"One reason is that very little is known about how organs are shaped and this is one of the first molecules that can be manipulated to change organ shape at will," she said.
"The second is that one of the mammalian counterparts of this organ-controlling protein may be involved in the spread of cancer cells."
Proteins similar to GON-1 could help spread cancerous cells from the original tumor to other parts of the body. Once cancer cells have spread throughout the body, the disease becomes much more difficult to treat.
"I think it is very likely that this kind of protein will be important for permitting cells to migrate. If we could get inhibitors that are specific to this, it might have a profound effect on cancer," she said.
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