Human cells were used for the study. Postdoc Prisca Liberali from Prof. Lucas Pelkmans’ team switched off 1,200 human genes involved in signal transmission and mass transport through the cell membrane. Using automated high-throughput microscopy and with the aid of computerised image analyses she was able to track and compare 13 different transport routes with different receptors and cellular organelles. By quantifying, she identified the genes that play a part in transport processes. Subsequent calculations of the hierarchical sequence within the genetic network allowed her to determine the regulatory topology of the cell transport.

The map is highly significant, as in the case of diseases genes that code for these types of intracellular control systems are often deregulated. Now researchers can predict at which point the transport processes fail. thus leading to disease. This mechanism could also be used as a basis for developing more effective drugs.

Source: (German): http://www.mediadesk.uzh.ch/articles/2014/leitsystem-fuer-den-zelltransport-erstmals-kartiert.html

Prisca Liberali, Berend Snijder, Lucas Pelkmans (2014): A hierarchical map of genetic regulatory interactions in membrane trafficking. Cell, June 5, 2014. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2014.04.029