Israeli, U.S. scientists discover how single-cell organisms survive at superheat

Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-16 01:13:06|Editor: huaxia

JERUSALEM, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Israeli and U.S. researchers have discovered a mechanism in single-cell organisms, allowing them to survive at temperatures approaching 100 degrees Celsius, the central Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) said on Wednesday.

According to WIS, this discovery opens new directions for studying human health and disease.

These organisms, known as archaea, thrive amidst superheated gases spewed from openings in Earth's crust.

The mechanism, which is a kind of heat-resistant gear for RNA, constitutes a previously unknown way by which cells can adjust to a changing environment.

The team found in the archaea's RNA astounding amounts of the molecule "ac4C", around 400 of them in each creature, whereas human cells and yeast contain only a handful of this molecule.

When the scientists genetically altered the species to delete the enzyme that produces ac4C, they found that the mutant organisms were vulnerable to heat.

Moreover, the number of ac4C molecules in the creatures increased as the temperature rose, showing that the addition of more and more ac4C is a dynamic adaptation mechanism, like putting on layers of heat-resistant armor.

Following these findings, it may be possible to check whether ac4C helps protect the RNA in human cells when there is fever, or under other stressful conditions, such as in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Enditem

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