A New Organelle Discovered, 2023

Researchers at Harvard University made an astonishing discovery of a new organelle in the gut of Drosophila melanogaster (model organism).

New tiny organelle stores phosphate in the cell and release it when deficient in the form of phospholipids, which is a basic component of the cell membrane. It is an exciting and thought-provoking discovery for phosphate storage inside cells which is the basic component of cells structurally and functionally.

Gamma Conroy, a structural biologist in French said that it is really exciting to discover a new organelle that stores phosphate and opens a gate for the physiological study of cells.

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ORGANELLE?

Remember a biology class, where we would study cell and their organelles? Tiny functional structures that are specialized to perform different functions inside the cell and help out a cell carry its activities like a nucleus, mitochondria, and ribosomes are specialized for storing genetic information, a powerhouse of the cell, and a protein factory respectively.

A Ph.D. researcher named Charles Xu and his colleagues from Harvard Medical School   discovered this bombshell and said:

“The beauty is there, it’s just waiting for us to discover it.”

He wanted to study the role of phosphate in controlling tissue regeneration in Drosophila Melanogaster. They fed fruit flies phosphonoformic acid which prohibits the cells to absorb phosphorus, but when they examined the cells they noticed that cell production increased. This made them curious and they start figuring out the impact of phosphorus on gene expression. They figure out by using a gene i.e. PXo, a similar gene for phosphate creation in mammals. They tag the protein with a fluorescent marker to track it and found amazing results and they wondered about, ‘what is it’.

Copied: A stained image of cells, with the PXo bodies appearing in green. Charles (Chiwei) Xu..

On detailed investigation, they found oval shape structures made of multiple layers that cross the PXo proteins so they named as PXo body, the new organelle that converts phosphate into phospholipids which cells use for membrane production.

Actually what happens inside the cell: is when cells stop the intake of phosphate and are in deficient phosphate, these PXo bodies will break down and trigger the cell to reproduce and getting increase in number so the higher the number of cells, the larger the amount of phosphate surrounding them will absorb.

“It’s opened the door to many other questions,” Xu said.

This newly discovered organelle named PXo bodies serves as a pool of essential electrolytes in the cell maintains the balance and plays a crucial role.

This discovery creates a spark in physiological research to find out the detailed structure of organelle, its physiological behavior, and its interaction with other organelles.