Medford/Somerville, MA (Scicasts) – As organisms develop, their
internal organs arrange in a consistent asymmetrical pattern--
heart and stomach to the left, liver and appendix to the right.
But how does this happen? Biologists at Tufts University have
produced the first evidence that a class of proteins that make
up a cell's skeleton -- tubulin proteins -- drives asymmetrical
patterning across a broad spectrum of species, including plants,
nematode worms, frogs, and human cells, at their earliest stages
of development. "Understanding this mechanism offers insights
important to the eventual diagnosis, prevention and possible
repair of birth defects that result when organs are arranged
abnormally," said Dr. Michael Levin, senior author on the paper
and director of the Center for Regenerative and Developmental
Biology at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences. "The
research also suggests that the origin of consistent asymmetry
is ancient, dating back to before plants and animals
independently became mult