2. Academic Validation
  3. Discovery of the migrasome, an organelle mediating release of cytoplasmic contents during cell migration

Discovery of the migrasome, an organelle mediating release of cytoplasmic contents during cell migration

  • Cell Res. 2015 Jan;25(1):24-38. doi: 10.1038/cr.2014.135.
Liang Ma 1,  Ying Li 1,  Junya Peng 1,  Danni Wu 1,  Xiaoxin Zhao 1,  Yitong Cui 1,  Lilian Chen 1,  Xiaojun Yan 2,  Yanan Du 3,  Li Yu 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Biotechnology, Tsinghua University-Peking University Joint Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Science, Beijing 100084, China.
  • 2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
  • 3 1] Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China [2] Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310003, China.
PMID: 25342562 DOI: 10.1038/cr.2014.135
Abstract

Cells communicate with each other through secreting and releasing proteins and vesicles. Many cells can migrate. In this study, we report the discovery of migracytosis, a cell migration-dependent mechanism for releasing cellular contents, and migrasomes, the vesicular structures that mediate migracytosis. As migrating cells move, they leave long tubular strands, called retraction fibers, behind them. Large vesicles, which contain numerous smaller vesicles, grow on the tips and intersections of retraction fibers. These fibers, which connect the vesicles with the main cell body, eventually break, and the vesicles are released into the extracellular space or directly taken up by surrounding cells. Since the formation of these vesicles is migration-dependent, we named them "migrasomes". We also found that cytosolic contents can be transported into migrasomes and released from the cell through migrasomes. We named this migration-dependent release mechanism "migracytosis".

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