> Cell fossilizes in living humans
Cell fossilizes in living humans
October 8, 2008
SFU criminologist Lynne Bell calls it a “mind-blowing” discovery - a cell that fossilizes itself inside of us while we are still alive.
The cell, known as the osteocyte, is one of the three bone cells. Millions of these cells live inside our bones.
According to Bell, the cell can live up to 15 years – but in ear bones lives far longer. Her recent study concentrated on ear bones as a rich source of these mineralized cells.
"We've seen the capsule where the cell lives, and assumed it died and that bone mineral simply grew into the now empty space," explains Bell, whose work with two other British researchers has been published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
"But after careful further study, we could see tiny structures in the mineral - what we thought was mineral overgrowth is actually fossilized cells inside the mineral. Which begged the question, how on earth does a cell fossilize when you are alive?"
The finding demonstrates that a single cell can mineralize in vivo via an unknown set of biochemical events.
"One of the big questions in forensic and archaeological science is where is the recovered DNA coming from. Where and how is it stored? We don’t know the answers to these questions.
"Here we have a single cell that fossilizes itself while the host is still living. In doing so it is preserving the DNA of that cell and many other cellular proteins. It really is quite extraordinary. I’ve even seen them in bones over five million years old.”
How many of us have these fossil cells in us? Dr. Bell says, “As we age we accumulate more and more of them. So if you are 25 years and over, you’ve got them, lots of them.”
The cell, known as the osteocyte, is one of the three bone cells. Millions of these cells live inside our bones.
According to Bell, the cell can live up to 15 years – but in ear bones lives far longer. Her recent study concentrated on ear bones as a rich source of these mineralized cells.
"We've seen the capsule where the cell lives, and assumed it died and that bone mineral simply grew into the now empty space," explains Bell, whose work with two other British researchers has been published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
"But after careful further study, we could see tiny structures in the mineral - what we thought was mineral overgrowth is actually fossilized cells inside the mineral. Which begged the question, how on earth does a cell fossilize when you are alive?"
The finding demonstrates that a single cell can mineralize in vivo via an unknown set of biochemical events.
"One of the big questions in forensic and archaeological science is where is the recovered DNA coming from. Where and how is it stored? We don’t know the answers to these questions.
"Here we have a single cell that fossilizes itself while the host is still living. In doing so it is preserving the DNA of that cell and many other cellular proteins. It really is quite extraordinary. I’ve even seen them in bones over five million years old.”
How many of us have these fossil cells in us? Dr. Bell says, “As we age we accumulate more and more of them. So if you are 25 years and over, you’ve got them, lots of them.”