Cellular 'shipping' wins Nobel Prize

Three scientists have won the Nobel Prize for
medicine or physiology after discovering how
cells precisely transport material.
James Rothman and Randy Schekman, both
from the US, and Thomas Sudhof, from
Germany, shared the prize.
They found the way "vesicles" act like a fleet of
ships transporting their goods to the exact
destination.
It is crucial for the way the brain communicates,
the release of hormones and parts of the
immune system.
The billions of cells which make up the body are
not empty blobs, instead they are packed with
precise machinery. In order for a cell to function
properly it needs the right materials in the right
place at the right time.
Vesicles are tiny bubbles of fat which act as the
cell's internal shipping service. They can send
material such as enzymes, neurotransmitters
and hormones, around the cell. Or they can
fuse with the outer surface of the cell and
release their contents into the wider body.
The prize committee said the findings: "Had a
major impact on our understanding of how
cargo is delivered with timing and precision
within and outside the cell.
"Without this wonderfully precise organisation,
the cell would lapse into chaos."
A defective vesicle transport system is
implicated in diabetes and brain disorders.
'Oh my God'
Prof James Rothman, from Yale University,
found proteins embedded in the vesicles which
act as the docking mechanism meaning the
cargo is released in the correct location.
Prof Randy Schekman, from the University of
California at Berkeley, discovered the genes
which regulated the transport system in yeast.
He found that mutations in three genes resulted
in a "situation resembling a poorly planned
public transport system".
After hearing of the award he said: "My first
reaction was 'Oh, my God! That was also my
second reaction."
Prof Thomas Sudhof, originally from Germany
but now at Stanford University in the US, made
breakthroughs in how the transport system
works in the brain so that neurotransmitters are
released at the precise time.
Dr Lisa Swanton, from the University of
Manchester, said: "Vesicles are like a postman's
bag, they have to get to a specific address.
"They have worked out the mechanism of
sending to the right location, they have
advanced the field enormously.
"They have revolutionised understanding of how
cells are organised which is fundamental to
huge number of diseases."