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Researchers have discovered a new way by which metabolism is linked to the regulation of DNA - the basis of our genetic code - according to a new study. 

According to researchers, the findings could have significant implications for the understanding of many common diseases such as cancer. 

Researchers discovered that an enzyme previously thought to reside only within mitochondria, can actually find its way into the nucleus and do what it is designed to do in the mitochondria. 

"Although this jumping of an enzyme from one organelle into another in the cell is not unheard off, our results were quite surprising", said lead researcher and postdoctoral fellow Gopinath Sutendra, in the press release. "We wanted to measure acetyl-CoA levels and PDC in the mitochondria because that's where we thought they were. But accidentally we had the nuclei isolated at the same time and we saw PDC in the nucleus. So we asked, 'what is PDC doing there?' And that started it all."

"We were surprised that, despite the recognized importance of histone acetylation in cell biology and medicine, and despite the efforts by many to develop drugs that regulate histone acetylation, the source of acetyl-CoA in the nucleus had remained unknown," Michelakis says. "Sometimes the answers to important biological questions are just next to you, waiting to be discovered," he added.

The study further noted that the translocation of PDC into the nucleus made cancer cells grow faster. This observation could lead to additional strategies in the war against cancer. "We are very excited about this new pathway linking energy production (the process known as metabolism) with gene regulation," the researchers added. 

The work has been published in the journal Cell.