Fireflies shed light on the function of mitochondria
Monday, August 10, 2020 - 12:11
in Biology & Nature
Tiny factories float inside our cells and provide them with almost all the energy they need: the mitochondria. Their effectiveness decreases when we get older, but also when we face many diseases such as diabetes, cancer or Parkinson's. This is why scientists are increasingly interested in how they work. At EPFL, a team has developed a protocol to measure their activity live in living animals. Described in Nature Chemical Biology, the method relies on the molecule responsible for the firefly's bioluminescence. In the most literal sense of the word, this study sheds light on how mitochondria work.