Lifestyle
Beer, usually a choice for light entertainment, may now prove helpful in the fight against cancer, according to new research.
Researchers at EMBL Germany and the University of Virginia School of Medicine studied the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S. Pombe), used in brewing beer.
When yeast cells' mitochondria hibernate to avoid stress, they become coated with deactivated ribosomes, which typically produce proteins.
Researchers visualized how ribosomes attach to mitochondria at the molecular level using advanced single-particle cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography.
Cancer cells, due to their uncontrolled growth, frequently experience nutrient shortages & enter a dormant state to survive & evade detection by the immune system.
Dr. Ahmed Jomaa says, "We need to understand how these cells survive and how they can help fight cancer."
The similarity between beer yeast and human cells makes it useful for studying cancerous cells.