How cells pick their food-making paths based on what kind they are
Nitrogen metabolism profiling reveals cell state-specific pyrimidine synthesis pathway choice
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Cells can make building blocks called pyrimidines in two ways: building from scratch or recycling old parts. This study shows that young, primitive cells use both ways, but older, mature cells mostly recycle. A tiny switch (a chemical tag on a protein) tells the cell which way to go.
Surprising Findings
Differentiated cells express de novo pyrimidine synthesis enzymes but don’t use them, relying almost entirely on salvage instead.
It defies the assumption that if a cell has the machinery to do something, it will use it. Here, mature cells have the tools to build from scratch but choose not to—suggesting tight regulatory control beyond mere enzyme presence.
Practical Takeaways
Understanding how cell maturity controls metabolism could help design better cancer treatments that target immature-like metabolic behaviors.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Cells can make building blocks called pyrimidines in two ways: building from scratch or recycling old parts. This study shows that young, primitive cells use both ways, but older, mature cells mostly recycle. A tiny switch (a chemical tag on a protein) tells the cell which way to go.
Surprising Findings
Differentiated cells express de novo pyrimidine synthesis enzymes but don’t use them, relying almost entirely on salvage instead.
It defies the assumption that if a cell has the machinery to do something, it will use it. Here, mature cells have the tools to build from scratch but choose not to—suggesting tight regulatory control beyond mere enzyme presence.
Practical Takeaways
Understanding how cell maturity controls metabolism could help design better cancer treatments that target immature-like metabolic behaviors.
Publication
Journal
bioRxiv
Year
2025
Authors
Milan R. Savani, Bailey C. Smith, Wen Gu, Yi Xiao, Gerard Baquer, Bingbing Li, Skyler S. Oken, Namya Manoj, L. Zacharias, V. Puliyappadamba, S. Stopka, M. Regan, Michael M Levitt, Charles K. Edgar, William H. Hicks, Soummitra Anand, Tracey Shipman, Misty S. Martin-Sandoval, Rainah Winston, João S. Patrício, Xandria Johnson, Trevor S. Tippetts, Diana D. Shi, Andrew Lemoff, Timothy E. Richardson, Pascal O. Zinn, Ashley Solmonson, T. P. Mathews, N. Agar, Ralph J. DeBerardinis, Kalil G. Abdullah, S. McBrayer
Related Content
Claims (4)
Simple cells make their own pyrimidines from scratch or recycle them, but more mature cells mostly just recycle them—even though they could make new ones. This seems to be a basic rule in both animals and humans, including in tumors.
Primitive cells have more of a certain chemical tag on a key protein than mature cells do, and when scientists fake that tag in mature cells, it messes with how they build DNA parts — showing this tag might help decide which building method the cell uses.
Scientists found a new way to track 30 different building blocks in cells at once, helping them see how cells use nitrogen in real time — and they spotted new patterns in how cells build DNA parts depending on their state.
By tracking how cells handle nitrogen, scientists might be able to spot when and how they switch on different ways of building key genetic building blocks, depending on what state the cell is in.