Abstract
Granulocytes share the common feature of having a lobulated nucleus, a fact whose function has yet to be discussed in depth. This hypothesis suggests that the division of the nuclei follows an epigenetic purpose, separating genes into compartments with different regulatory mechanisms, which may be due to intrinsic factors like regulatory RNA or extrinsic factors like proteins. This paper describes the outlines of a line of research for both the initial testing to test the hypothesis and the following descriptive studies, including potential clinical uses in the prognosis or diagnosis of diseases that present dysregulation of the number of lobes. The chosen approach is to study the pattern of distribution (random or otherwise) of genes amongst the lobes.
Highlights
Follows a descriptive study and more in depth research looking for the underlying mechanisms and possible clinical applications. If this hypothesis is true, there will be a pattern showing a consistent distribution of the genetic material amongst the lobes, as opposed to an even and random distribution pattern in which all distributions would have an equal chance to appear — even if, through the microscope, proportions appear different (Figs 1, 2, 3)
A few blood samples from healthy volunteers would be enough to obtain a sufficient amount of neutrophils to use in a chi-square test
If we want our probe to arrive at the vacant sequence and stay hybridising, we may need to prevent the RNA polymerase from joining or transcribing the locus or to employ nucleic acids with higher affinity for DNA than the other DNA strand, such as peptide nucleic acid (PNA) or locked nucleic acid (LNA) (Briones and Moreno 2012)
Summary
It has long been a widely known fact that neutrophils, basophils and eosinophils have lobulated nuclei. A biological property can be secondary to another phenomenon, but it is more common to have been conserved because it confers an evolutionary advantage. This is the approach this paper is going to follow. Especially in the case of neutrophils, there is much more space for granules in the cytoplasm, but a purely mechanical goal does not explain why there is a set number of lobes in basophils and eosinophils (2 lobes) and neutrophils (3-4 lobes) and not a more variable number. In some pathological conditions such as lack of B12 vitamin and leukemia, to name but two, there is a variation of the number of nuclei (Chan et al 2010), which makes us think that the number of lobes is very likely regulated in physiological circumstances and it is affected in certain diseases
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