Understanding the Importance of Centrosomes for Maintaining Youthful Health
What Are Centrosomes? Uncovering the Essential Role of Centrosome Function in Health, Aging, and Disease
If you've never heard the word "centrosome" before, you're certainly not alone.
Centrosomes are part of your cells that are often overlooked outside the field of scientific research and medicine. However, the latest research shows that when it comes to aging, we should sit up and pay closer attention to our centrosomes.
Just as a project manager oversees the entire affairs of a construction site and manages the project’s human, material, and financial resources, so does the centrosome, which has a similar role in orchestrating numerous processes within a human cell. The centrosome is a central player in organizing a cell’s shape and structure, overseeing how cellular components move to their required destinations, and directing how the cell divides to give birth to a new cell.
In recent years, it has become clear that defects in the centrosome are linked to cancer and many age-related diseases.
Let's take a closer look at the mighty centrosome and what you can do to protect yours from dysfunction.
Overview
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Centrosomes play an essential role in cellular form, structure, signaling, and in the regulation of the life cycle of the cell.
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Irregularly formed or additional centrosomes contribute to abnormal cell division.
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Centrosome dysfunction can lead to various conditions such as cancer and diseases of aging, emphasizing its importance for maintaining cellular health and overall wellbeing.
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You can support centrosome health with a diet rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and other key nutrients shown to protect your cells against damage.
The Centrosome: Structure and Components
Centrosomes are organelles - molecular complexes responsible for specific tasks in cells - located close to the nucleus.
Centrosomes and their components called centrioles were first discovered at the end of the nineteenth century by a team of biologists, including Edouard Van Beneden, as well as Theodor Boveri and Walther Flemming. It was a big discovery and their work began to lay the foundation for the chromosomal theory of heredity.
Chromosomal heredity is the theory that genes are found in specific spots on chromosomes. What's more, chromosomal behavior explains why some physical traits are inherited in one generation but skip the next generation and so forth. For instance, why you have your father's hands and your brother got his nose.
Scientist Thomas Hunt Morgan provided the first strong confirmation of the chromosome theory with his work in fruit flies. He discovered a genetic mutation that affected the fly's eye color. In fact, he found that this genetic mutation was inherited differently by male and female flies and was among the first to conclude that the gene for eye color must be located on the X chromosome.
Back to centrosomes...
Centrosomes function primarily as microtubule organizing centers (MTOC). Microtubules are the largest part of the cytoskeleton of the cell; a network of fibers that support the cell, giving it form and structure, much like our human skeleton.
It's in the MTOC that microtubules are constructed and organized to turn into tubular structures. As the director of operations for the microtubules, centrosomes play a pivotal role in cell cycle regulation, including the centrosome cycle which changes in tandem with the four phases of the cell cycle.
The Centriole and Pericentriolar Material
Each centrosome consists of two main parts called centrioles. These contain barrel-shaped clusters of microtubules arranged at right angles to each other. Centrioles play a crucial role in centrosome assembly and function, serving as the backbone for the creation and organization of the microtubules.
Surrounding the centrioles are a matrix of multiple proteins called the pericentriolar material (PCM) whose job is to nucleate (trigger) the formation of microtubules. PCM is also important for centriole maintenance and stability, and for distributing components within the cell.
There's only one centrosome in a cell in the first (G1) phase of the cell cycle, but a second centrosome grows out of the first in the second – synthesis or S - phase of the cell cycle, in preparation for cell division, also known as mitosis.
Centrosomes are present in a wide variety of cell types, from simple organisms right up to human cells. Their diverse roles in cell biology are critical to maintaining cell shape and ensuring the correct distribution of cellular components during mitosis.
Overview
Centrosomes have multiple functions, from organizing microtubules to coordinating cellular processes and regulating cell life phases, such as cell division and cilia/flagella formation. Cilia and flagella are hair-like structures that allow cells to move.
Centrosomes also play a crucial role via the microtubules in providing transportation tracks on which two families of proteins - called molecular motors or motor proteins - transport cellular components from one part of a cell to another. We can think of it like a railway track on which a train transports cargo.
In the following subsections, we will explore some of the key functions of centrosomes in more detail.
Microtubule Organization: Promotes Cell Function
Centrosomes stimulate microtubule formation, determining the transportation tracks for cellular components and playing a crucial role in cell structure and function.
Throughout the cell cycle, centrosomes are involved in the organization of microtubules, allowing cells to maintain their shape and integrity during various cellular processes.
Cell Cycle Regulation: How Cells Stay Healthy
Centrosomes play a significant role in cell cycle progression, with their restructuring facilitated by specific enzymes (kinases) during mitosis. In proliferating cells, centrosomes begin division prior to the S phase, with newly formed centrosomes taking part in the arrangement of the mitotic spindles.
Post-mitotic cells feature two types of centrioles - a mature one (mother) and an immature one (daughter). Such mature cells are characterized by the presence of these centrioles. The centrosomes’ involvement in cell cycle regulation ensures proper cellular development and coordination of various cellular processes, emphasizing their importance in maintaining cellular health.
Cilia and Flagella Formation: How Cells Move and Communicate
Centrioles are essential for the formation of cilia and flagella, which are important for cell motility (movement) and signaling. Since centrosomes play a key role in the formation of the microtubule cytoskeleton, they're indispensable for the structure and function of cilia and flagella.
In epithelial cells, which line the blood vessels and outer surface of organs, centrioles have multiple roles, including:
- Assembling and constructing motile cilia after securing at the cell membrane
- Playing a crucial role in cilia and flagella formation
- Contributing to various cellular processes
- Maintaining cellular health by ensuring proper centrosome function
What's more, when cells divide centrosomes play another important role. However, centrosome and centriole age affect their ability to respond to signaling cues, which may affect stem cell proliferation. While this is a complex process, suffice it to say that when cells divide, the daughter cell usually inherits the older centriole, leading to differences in centriole performance and cellular behavior.
These differences can result in abnormal cell function and the signs and symptoms of aging. This is also where your diet, lifestyle, and supplement regimen can make a big difference in how you age.