The key to growth

1999/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Genetika

A group of researchers from the University of Zurich and the Friederich Miescher Institute of Bâle seem to find a gene that controls growth: they have produced a mutation in the d6K gene and have achieved a fly twice as low as normal. If we compare the fly with another of the same species, the only characteristic that the difference is its size.

After a thorough analysis of all parts of the body, the researchers concluded that both flies have the same number of cells. The only difference is that those of the small fly are twice as small. According to the results obtained, the size and amount of cells in an organism would depend on two different mechanisms. Two conclusions: it is independent of the number of cells containing the definitive mass of the organs and, on the other hand, the size of the cells determines the size of the organ.

However, these spectacular results must be critically analyzed. On the one hand, because 98% of the trials have failed and, on the other, because finding the gene involved in a process does not mean that this is the gene that controls the process.