Issues

Summary: The launch of a new brand and website for DMM.

Summary: We spoke to Tatsushi Igaki about his research using Drosophila models to uncover the principles of cell-cell communication in development and cancer. He describes his passion for research and the key events that shaped his career.

Summary: Non-muscle myosin II (NMII) contributes to diverse diseases, including neuronal disorders, cancer and vascular disease. We address the role of NMII in disease pathology and highlight promising clinical applications of NMII inhibitors for disease and stem-cell-based therapies.

Editors' choice: Conditional deletion of Tsc1 in the eye results in hamartoma formation and defects in retinal ganglion cell development – a novel mouse model providing insights into visual pathway involvement in TSC.

Summary: Genetic interactions between Fbxo11 and p53 illustrate the cross-talk between the TGF-β and p53 signalling pathways in epithelial development, with implications for the underlying molecular pathology of otitis media.

Summary: Map3k1 mutant mice exhibit early-onset profound hearing loss and supernumerary outer hair cells, along with dysregulation of the FGF signaling pathway, accentuating its function in otic epithelium development and morphogenesis.

Summary: The ENU-derived mouse mutant goya, reveals, for the first time, multiple roles of MAP3K1 in cochlear development and correct auditory function.

Summary: The authors characterize a cardiac-dysfunction model of DM1 in Drosophila, and show that pentamidine rescues both contractility and rhythmicity.

Summary: β-arrestins regulate oxidative stress in a Nox4-dependent manner leading to increased extracellular-matrix protein synthesis by cardiac fibroblasts (CFs). Targeted inhibition of β-arrestins in CFs might decrease pathological fibrosis.

Summary: Loss-of-function mutations in the MCOLN1 gene encoding transient receptor potential channel mucolipin-1 (TRPML1) result in a devastating lysosomal storage disorder, mucolipidosis IV. Here, we report that loss of TRPML1 in mice causes developmental aberrations of brain myelination.

Summary: Apical integrin localization, mediated by polarized and directed trafficking, is crucial for proper engulfment by epithelial cells.

Summary: By reducing PPARγ, neuronal seipin deficiency impairs adult neurogenesis in the hippocampal dentate gyrus to produce a depression-like phenotype in mice.

Summary: The newly identified paracrine role of umbilical cord stem cells highlights their therapeutic utilities to treat not only the autoimmune-mediated type 1 diabetes but also type 2 diabetes.

Summary: This modified choline-deficient, ethionine-supplemented model induces liver injury in mice and reproducibly minimizes morbidity and mortality, whilst maintaining a liver-progenitor-cell response sufficient for cell-line establishment.

Summary: The authors apply the CLARITY and PACT techniques to image infectious structures located deep within whole adult zebrafish and mouse organs, enabling visualization of mycobacterial granulomas and host response without sectioning.