Issues

Summary: In this Cell Science at a Glance article and accompanying poster, an update is provided on the complexity of ubiquitin chains and their physiological relevance.

Summary: Precision autophagy represents direct recognition of targets by receptors, such as TRIMs, that simultaneously organize core autophagy proteins, coupling recognition to autophagosome formation.

Highlighted Article: Novel cell-penetrating peptide-calmodulin adaptor proteins effect efficient delivery of user-defined cargo proteins to the cytoplasm of living mammalian cells.

Highlighted Article: We identify several interacting proteins of α-dystrobrevin-1, and show that Grb2 and α-catulin are localized at NMJs in vivo and are required for proper organization of postsynaptic machinery.

Summary: Nanog blocks cellular senescence of fibroblasts through transcriptional regulation of cell cycle inhibitor p27^KIP1.

Highlighted Article: Developing Drosophila photoreceptors dynamically remodel ER to meet changing cell needs; success requires the conserved multifunctional ER regulator Ire1.

Summary: In oligodendrocytes, Fyn kinase regulates the synthesis of MOBP, and MOBP is required for establishing the complex cellular morphology of oligodendrocytes.

Highlighted Article: Bioactive peptide amidation is catalyzed by peptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase (PAM). Functional PAM is present in Chlamydomonas and cilia, organelles that play key roles in signaling.

Summary: The kinesin KIF17 activates RhoA signaling at cell–cell contacts to regulate junctional actin, the stability of the apical junctional complex and polarization of epithelial cells.

Summary: Autophagic degradation requires trafficking and fusion of autophagosomes and lysosomes. Here, Rab14 and the PX-domain-containing kinesin Klp98A are shown to promote vesicle formation, transport and fusion.

Summary: Two Dishevelled paralogs have both redundant and non-redundant roles in β-catenin regulation during asymmetric cell division in C. elegans.

Summary: Overexpression of the pro-apoptotic protein appoptosin impairs interaction of the mitochondrial fusion proteins MFN1 and MFN2, and reduces mitochondrial fusion activity, leading to mitochondrial fragmentation.

Summary: The outcome of Ras overexpression in primary human keratinocytes depends on the clonogenic potential of the founding cell and only the human epidermal stem cell compartment is competent to initiate tumorigenesis.

Summary: Panx3 and Cx43 are two important gap junction proteins expressed in osteoblasts. We find that Panx3 and Cx43 regulate skeletal formation through their distinct expression patterns and functions.

Summary: With a fold similar to UNC-45, T. gondii ARO recruits adenylate cyclase β at the surface of the rhoptries and is implicated in the apical positioning and clustering of these secretory organelles.

Summary: Long double-stranded RNAs are differentially expressed and distributed during nuclear differentiation to affect small RNA production and DNA rearrangements in Tetrahymena.

Summary: MBD3 and its homolog MBDL2 promote Tet2 enzymatic activity, and MBD3L2 enhances the demethylation process mediated by Tet2.

Summary: Macrophages use extracellular compartments, termed lysosomal synapses, that are topologically complex, have a convoluted structure and contain sub-regions that are acidified to digest aggregated lipoproteins.