Nerve cells have amazing energy -saving strategies and continue to perform the most important of their duties. Researchers at Bonn University Hospital (UKB) and the University of Bonn as well as the Göttingen University Medical Center found that the neuronal energy conservation program determines the position and number of Messenger RNA (MRNA) and protein , longevity and other properties of the corresponding molecule. The work has now been published in “Nature Communications” magazine.
We have all experienced the need to save energy in recent years. To do this, we all had to find strategies to save energy while still meeting our most important needs. “Our nerve cells face a similar dilem To transfer the proteins to long distances to synapses and pay attention to their energy budget. Areas (Trale) and “Modeling” at the University of Bonn.
Energy -saving measures explain protein distributions
Despite its relatively small size, the brain consumes about 20 % of the body’s total energy. As with all cells, neuronal functions are subject to strict energy restrictions, which are particularly severe in the brain due to its high energy requirements. The research team was able to show that the synthesis and degradation of all neural molecules represents a particularly high cell energy cost and therefore requires energy saving measures. All cells, including neurons, require the proper functioning of proteins. These are produced through a process known as a gene expression, in which the relevant information is copied by a gene to a messenger RNA (mRNA). The mature mRNA is then translated into the required protein. Thanks to progress in biochemistry and microscopy, it is now possible to make precise mapping of the position of individual mRNA copies and corresponding proteins in cells and quantify the number for thousands of mRNA and protein species. For the first time, this allows researchers to study complex organizational principles that control the standards of expression of spatial genes and apply to all types of molecules.
The research team has compiled experimental data from more than ten large -scale MRNA and protein -scale screens that include tens of thousands of molecular species.
We have found that the movement to maintain energy determines the number and number and position of the protein, affecting each molecular species differently depending on the length, life and other properties of the molecule. “
Cornelius Bergmann, First Author, Doctoral Student, Bonn University at the Institute of Experimental Epileptics and Knowledge Research in UKB
The results show that the energy costs for the composition, transport and degradation of the molecules, their spatial location and the total number are limited to energy efficient solutions.
“If some short -lived proteins were synthesized in the cell body, a large percentage of them would not come alive in synapses due to long travel time,” adds Professor Tchumatchenko. “This would be a waste of energy in proteins that cannot fulfill their work.”
The model’s calculations in the present study show that proteins are preferably synthesized in the branched extensions of a nerve cell, the so -called dendrites, if the loss of energy “on the road” by the body of cells in synapses are greater than the energy required for MRNA transfer to dendrites.
New perspective for gene expression studies
However, the findings of the research team go beyond the maintenance of energy. “Our results shed light on the organizational principles of gene expression in cells acting on various molecular species and exceeding individual regulatory mechanisms,“Says co-writer Silvio Rizzoli, Director of the Department of Neuros- and Sensory Physiology at Göttingen University Medical Center, representative of the Biosystrotive Imaging Center of Neurodegeneration (BIN) and a member of the Apocalypse Complex: cells ”(MBEXC).
The most amazing result for the research team was that the physical properties of proteins, such as length or life, and not their specific function, have such a strong effect on the energy budget and therefore on the place of their composition. Co-author Kanaan Mousaei, a doctoral student at the University of Bonn at the Institute of Experimental Epileptics and Research Knowledge at UKB, stresses: “Our model offers a new perspective for the correlation of dozens of existing sets of data from different laboratories. ”
Source:
Magazine report:
Bergmann, C., et al. (2025). How the energy determines spatial detection and number of copies of molecules to neurons. Nature communications. Doi.org/10.1038/S41467-025-56640-0.
