NEW YORK, Nov. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In living beings, from roundworms to humans, some cells may ball up unwanted contents on their surfaces for other cells to "eat." This is the finding of a study led by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and published online November 14 in Nature Cell Biology.
The results raise the possibility that cellular cannibalism may be more widespread than once thought, and may even shed light on certain brain disorders. The work was done in the worm species C. elegans, which is famous for its role in past discoveries of vital mechanisms also at work in human cells. Specifically, the study found that, as an embryo develops into a worm, cells that pass on genes to the next generation (primordial germ cells or PGCs) form outer lobes, or "balls," that are digested by nearby cells that form the worm's gut. By forming lobes destined to be clipped off and digested, germ cells may be discarding large amounts of material that would otherwise interfere with reproduction, say the study authors.