# Supplements for Equipment Purchases

> **NIH NIH R01** · SLOAN-KETTERING INST CAN RESEARCH · 2024 · $221,824

## Abstract

Project Summary
Reproducible assembly of protein molecules from free amino acids requires external information stored
in DNA/RNA (genome). In contrast, assembly of higher-order structures from individual protein molecules
is thought to occur de novo, relying on information intrinsic to each protein component. How higher-order
complexity emerges efficiently without error using only the scattered information in each building block
remains a question hindering core understandings of life. Here we address this question using the
biogenesis of the centriole organelle as the example. We found that a proteinaceous structure called the
cartwheel is grown inside existing centrioles, which is then split, shed and used as structural templates
(or guidance) for reproducing a copy of the centriole with the same size/shape. Uncontrolled cartwheel
shedding was further found to underly a human disease called Alström syndrome. By erasing the old
guidance, we showed that new/naive centrioles varying widely in size and shape arise, which can
propagate reproducibly thereafter in cells otherwise genetically identical. The simplest model explaining
our results is that one or more steps of centriole biogenesis are template-based, instructed by information
stored and transmitted outside of the genome. This model on which the current proposal is based on will
shed light on how cellular complexity emerges reproducibly from components randomly distributed in the
cell, redefining the scope of biological information as we currently understood.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11100853
- **Project number:** 3R01GM088253-14S1
- **Recipient organization:** SLOAN-KETTERING INST CAN RESEARCH
- **Principal Investigator:** MENG-FU BRYAN TSOU
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $221,824
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2009-08-01 → 2027-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11100853

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11100853, Supplements for Equipment Purchases (3R01GM088253-14S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11100853. Licensed CC0.

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