Issues

Summary: This Cell Science at a Glance article presents the current understanding of the molecular components and pathways that regulate mucosal barriers in health and disease.

Summary: We discuss the intriguing diversification of lipid droplets between and within cells and propose the early steps of lipid droplet biogenesis to determine the later lipid droplet fate.

Summary: Comparative proteomics revealed that mitochondrial proteins are a major target for α-synuclein. Sideroflexin 3 (SFXN3) was identified as one α-synuclein-dependent mitochondrial protein capable of altering synaptic morphology in vivo.

Highlighted Article: The heparan sulfate 6-O endosulfatase Sulf1 is required for proper inactivation of Drosophila intestinal stem cell division during regeneration by modulating mitogenic signaling pathways.

Summary: Drosophila wash was originally described as an essential gene. We show that wash mutant flies are viable and fertile, and that WASH has conserved functions in integrin receptor recycling and lysosome neutralization.

Highlighted Article: This work shows that mitochondrial translocation of ER ceramides specifically induces apoptosis and highlights a novel approach for probing compartment-specific functions of these biomolecules as key determinants of cell fate.

Summary: Integration of transmembrane domains through the Sec61 translocon is not only dependent on its own sequence and hydrophobicity, but also on the conformational properties of the downstream sequence.

Highlighted Article: Here, we investigate the function of the completely uncharacterized protein ANKRD50 showing that it is involved in recycling of cell surface proteins through multiple interactions with the retromer complex.

Summary: The organization of membrane-fused GLUT4 is regulated by insulin and insulin resistance, and the F⁵QQI motif and lipid rafts are proven to be associated with the maintenance of GLUT4 clusters.

Highlighted Article: In human cells, integrity of the microtubule nucleator γTuRC is crucial for γ-tubulin-dependent functions and is monitored by MZT1 to enable interaction with other factors necessary for spatial regulation of nucleation.

Summary: The role of the small GTPase RhoA in the assembly of the apical surface in nascent multiciliated cells is explored, revealing that RhoA and formin 1 control forces acting on the apical surface to regulate apical emergence.

Highlighted Article: The HIV-1 accessory protein Nef interacts with a new variant of the adaptor protein complex 1 (AP-1), which contains the γ2 subunit, to target CD4 molecules to lysosomes.

Summary: Class-I PI3-kinases are needed for pronuclear envelope formation and fusion in sea urchin zygotes, and Rab7 GTPase and PtdIns(3,4,5)P₃ directly interact during the membrane fusion process.

Summary: We show that Drosophila lacking atl, a gene associated with hereditary spastic paraplegia, exhibit muscle degeneration and other phenotypes that are each rescued by administering the Tor inhibitor rapamycin.

Summary: An unconventional anti-apoptotic function of HIF-1α during hypoxia involves ERK-regulated association of its C-terminal domain with outer mitochondrial membrane proteins.

Summary: The prion-like protein Jub6p forms SDS-resistant aggregates, binds to RNA and is a heterochromatin component important for the heterochromatin body formation during programmed DNA elimination.

Summary: The chemokine receptor signal modulates the function of filamin A by phosphorylating serine 2152, as a mechanism to regulate its own loading into endosomal tubulations and receptor trafficking.

Summary: Phosphorylation of XIAP by CDK1–cyclin-B1 controls the onset of mitotic cell death, which is important for surveillance against defects in mitosis and the response to cancer drugs that target cell division.

Summary: This article presents the preclinical utility of an automated in vitro imaging platform that enables quantitative single-cell spatiotemporal monitoring of the cell cycle.