Researchers led by the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta have captured how genetic information travels within a cell, revealing a real-time look at the process.

In a study published in the Journal of Cell Biology, researchers detailed the discovery made possible by a high-powered microscope specially designed for the event. With their findings, the researchers have significantly altered the current mindset about how RNA moves from a cell's nucleus to the cytoplasm. The discovery is believed to have implications related to medical advances.

According to Ben Montpetit, the study's senior author, it is important to understand how a system operates to know how to fix it. Using the analogy of a mechanic, he explained the purpose of their work.

"With the old technology, we could tell there was a defect but could not tell where it was happening. Now we can see the errors occurring in real time," said Montpetit.

The researchers were now able to spot defects they didn't expect, thanks to the new imaging technique they have. As the models the researchers currently use wouldn't have been able to predict the defects, their discovery highlights just how useful the new technology will be.

Before the special high-powered microscope was developed, researchers only had a still image to observe RNA in transit, which only offered a static snapshot of what was occurring in a cell. Now, they can observe particles as small as nanometers over just milliseconds in a living yeast cell.

By recording what was happening, the researchers were able to observe the path and time RNA took to get from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, where it will be used for protein encoding. Additionally, they were able to observe how the process changed after a mutation was introduced into the system.

Montpetit and colleagues will move forward with their work on two fronts: continuing their study on mutations and other factors affecting RNA transport and improving the microscope that made their discovery possible.

Aside from the University of Alberta, researchers for the study hailed from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Their work received funding support from an Alberta Innovates - Technology Futures Graduate Scholarship, the Alberta Research Capacity Program, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canada Research Chairs and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.