Mechanisms of RNA Sorting into Exosomes

传统上，科学家认为包含我们身份的遗传密码的物质，我们的基因，不会在细胞之间共享。例如，这被认为是细胞、器官和有机体保持其特性的必要条件，所以你的心脏不会变成胃。因此，在2008年左右，当人们发现细胞不仅会释放被称为RNA的遗传物质到体液中，而且这些遗传物质还能以完全正常的状态被输送到其他细胞中，在这个过程中改变细胞的身份时，许多人都感到惊讶。利用我们目前的生物学和医学概念，很难理解细胞如何以及为什么会交换遗传物质。细胞之间的这种交换机制可能使它们能够在远距离（如动物的全球互联网）以精确的方式进行交流，以帮助彼此适应新环境或保护自己免受感染。其他证据表明，当细胞不再需要遗传物质时，遗传物质会从细胞中释放出来，以消除它们，或者来自试图入侵细胞的病毒，或者发生突变并可能导致癌症。有证据表明，释放出来的遗传物质可能会被我们全身的细胞降解，这些细胞被称为吞噬细胞（或进食细胞），它们能够很好地清除进入体内的多种毒素和废物。在这个项目中，我们将进行实验，以确切地了解哪些遗传物质从细胞中释放出来，以及它们是如何在所有其他遗传物质中被选择释放的。这将使我们能够达到我们的长期目标，即在细胞间通信或防御降解的可能性中，理解细胞释放遗传物质的原因。

Traditionally, scientists believed that materials containing the genetic code of our identity, our genes, were not shared between cells. This was believed to be a requirement for cells, organs and organisms to maintain their identity, for example, so your heart didn't become a stomach. Therefore, many people were astonished when around 2008 it was discovered that not only did cells release genetic materials, called RNA, into bodily fluids, but these genetic materials could then be delivered in a fully functional state into other cells, changing the cell's identity in the process. It is very difficult to understand how and why cells would exchange genetic materials using our current conceptions of biology and medicine. It is possible that this mechanism of exchange between cells allows them to communicate in precise ways at great distance (like the worldwide internet in animals) to help each other adapt to a new environment or defend themselves from infection. Other evidence suggests that genetic materials are released from cells to eliminate them when they are no longer needed, come from a virus trying to invade the cell, or are mutated and could cause cancer. Evidence suggests that the released genetic materials might then be degraded by cells throughout our body, called phagocytes (or eating cells) that are well-adapted to eliminate many kinds of toxins and waste that enter the body. In this project, we will perform experiments to understand exactly which genetic materials are released from cells and how they are selected, among all others, for release. This will allow us to reach our long-term goal of understanding, among the possibilities of intercellular communication or defensive degradation, why cells release genetic materials.