life science
The Fungal Network Syncytia are integral to understanding life By Jasmeet Singh
Image by USCDCP. [CC0]
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magine this: You are walking through the forest when cells such as cancer and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus responsible you stumble upon a patch of toadstools. Even though for COVID-19), and more.1 you cannot hear them, these organisms chat with countYou may be asking, why cells? Dr. Gladfelter explains less other species via a web of branched out multinucle- that examining cells at the microscopic level is intuitive ated cells known as syncytia. By transmitting information for her. “There’s people that study elephants,” she says, to trees that appear far out of reach and communicating “and that’s their scale. And then there’s people who with bacterial colonies deep inside study galaxies. I like thinking about “By understanding the the soil, fungi effectively bridge the problems at the scale of a cell.” gaps between ecosystems. It is no biophysics of the processes Studying live fungi with fluorescent wonder they are thought of as “the inside these structural units, a microscopy provides one such Earth’s internet.”1 approach, as most fungi are giant Dr. Amy Gladfelter, a professor new world and perspective can fused cells that house many nuclei of cell biology at UNC-Chapel Hill, — and thus, many genomes — be unlocked.” bathed in the same cytoplasm. uses this example to illustrate the importance of her work with While it is not yet understood why fungal cells take fungal syncytia in an effort to on this form, their unusual structure fascinates researchers. understand cell organization. Fungi take on shapes ranging from branched to sporous, Her lab is conducting a multitude and the organelles inside their cells constantly perform of research projects at any given a myriad of actions. This may sound like chaos. However, moment, projects that span the Gladfelter lab is able to pry open cells, look at their human and environmental individual components, and understand this complex bodies. The applications of system in a simpler fashion. Thus, the inner workings of this research could provide fungal cells become ordered chaos as Dr. Gladfelter and the pathway to understanding her team investigate the cell’s governing rules and overall integral components of the organization.1 One mechanism that Dr. Gladfelter’s research has biosphere, neurodegenerative Dr. Amy Gladfelter diseases, the science of syncytial explored involves the ways in which cells create functionally
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