Gene for organ shape discovered

A team of scientists has reported the discovery of a genetic mechanism that controls the shape of organs. Reporting in Nature, researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) at the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison describe a protein protein that regulates organ shape in the microscopic worm, Caenorhabditis elegans. Judith Kimble, a UW-Madison professor of biochemistry and Robert Blelloch, a doctoral and medical student in Kimble's lab, found that a protein - named GON-1 - is responsible for shaping the gonad, a reproductive organ. Kimble claims that there is a good possibility that the same organ-orchestrating mechanism is common to other organs in most other organisms.

With last year's breakthrough in human embryonic stem cell research, many are hailing this as the first step towards the holy grail of growing whole organs in the laboratory. However, Kimble points out other reasons why the research is important. Not only is this one of the first molecules that can be manipulated to change organ shape at will, but it is possible that one of the mammalian counterparts of this organ-controlling protein may be involved in the spread of cancer cells. Knowing how the protein works could lead to the development of inhibitors to slow or stop the spread of cancerous cells in patients.