Discovery of new phosphate-storing organelle in fruit fly gut.
Scientists at Harvard Medical School studying phosphate transport in fruit fly intestines have discovered a new organelle, named PXo bodies, that stores phosphate. The organelle was found to be storing phosphate in a multilamellar membrane, and when the gene PXo was downregulated or missing, the PXo bodies degraded, releasing the backup storage of phosphate into the cell. The discovery could lead to further research into the organelle's functions and interactions in other life forms.