Tag: cells

Numerous organisms respond to the odor of lethal pathogens by reflexively preventing them. A current research study from the University of California, Berkeley, reveals that the nematode C. elegans Responds to the smell of pathogenic germs by preparing its digestive cells to hold up against a prospective assault. Similar to human beings, nematodes' guts are a typical target of disease-causing germs. The nematode responds by damaging iron-containing organelles called mitochondria, which produce a cell's energy, to safeguard this important component from iron-stealing germs. Iron is a crucial driver in numerous enzymatic responses in cells-- in specific, the generation of the body's energy currency, ATP (adenosine triphophate). The existence in C. elegans of this protective reaction to smell...