Issues

Summary: This Cell Science at a Glance article and accompanying poster provide a broad overview of the LC3-associated phagocytic pathway and its role in a variety of physiological and pathological settings.

Summary: We review evidence that normally developing tissues have physiological ER stress, and the three branches of the unfolded protein response (UPR) exhibit a high level of specificity in promoting their development.

Summary: The structure–function relationship of the C. elegans P4-ATPase TAT-1 and identification of two highly conserved motifs that are especially important for the TAT-1 phosphatidylserine flippase activity.

Highlighted Article: Identification of α-catenin as the mechanotransducer that recruits Jub to junctions under tension; this recruitment of Jub is sufficient to increase Yorkie activity.

Summary: The IFT25 protein of Trypanosoma brucei is required for construction of its flagellum, a situation equivalent to the mouse sperm flagellum but not to primary cilia.

Summary: Macrophages must migrate to a variety of stimuli, including inflammatory wounds. We identify the actin-regulatory protein Ena as a master remodeller of the cytoskeleton within migrating macrophages in vivo.

Summary: How elevations of intracellular free Ca²⁺ concentration are detected by Weibel–Palade bodies (WPBs) remains unclear. Here, we show that synaptotagamin 5 is a WPB-associated Ca²⁺-sensor regulating exocytosis.

Summary: ATRX deficiency in cancer cells induces downregulation of PML, rendering the cells highly sensitive to lysis with ICP0-null mutant herpes simplex virus-1, with potential therapeutic applications.

Summary: A positive functional relationship between CLAMP and CP190 enhances gypsy-dependent insulator activities through regulation of chromatin organization in all Drosophila tissues.

Summary: Epitheliocytes cannot develop the F-actin patterns typically observed in fibroblasts, but can do so after treatments affecting actin polymerization. Regulators of actin polymerization, DIAPH1 and VASP, control this process.

Summary: (G₄C₂)_n repeat RNA, associated with frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, predominantly forms paraspeckle-like bodies independently of the known paraspeckle scaffold, the long non-coding RNA NEAT1.

Summary: This study reveals a functional consequence of intratumor heterogeneity in YAP expression, and suggests that tumorigenesis benefits from competitive interactions between heterogeneous tumor cells.

Summary: A skeletal muscle defect is revealed as novel phenotype of Atm-knockout mice, which is relevant for ataxia telangiectasia disease studies and for the role of ATM in oxidative stress, atrophy and aging.

Summary: The excitable dynamics of Ras GTPase breaks symmetry in signaling pathways to generate asymmetric signals, which are required for spontaneous cell migration.

Summary: The necroptotic effector MLKL can inhibit the function of autolysosomes, thereby reducing autophagic flux.

Highlighted Article: Gef1 and endocytic events at the assembled actomyosin ring facilitate uniform F-BAR protein Cdc15 distribution along the ring thus enabling concentric furrow formation.

Highlighted Article: Here, we show that tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) regulates the synaptic expression of p35, and that tPA-induced p35-mediated Cdk5 activation preserves the structure and regulates the receptor composition of the postsynaptic density.

Summary: Generation of PI(3,5)P2 by the PIKfyve complex regulates membrane remodeling of early melanosomes; this controls the import–export balance that is required for functional amyloid formation and melanosome identity.

Summary: Podoplanin enhances the migration of mesenchymal stromal cells in a Rac-1-dependent manner, enabling direct interactions of subendothelial stroma with circulating platelets.

Summary: Src-mediated phosphorylation at tyrosine 598 of βPix-b, a major neuronal βPix isoform, regulates its guanine nucleotide exchange factor activity that is critical for spine and synapse formation.

Summary: Analysis of the intranuclear mobility pattern of the glucocorticoid receptor by using FRAP and single-molecule microscopy (SMM) shows that the receptor is in a ‘repetitive switching’ mode most of the time.

Highlighted Article: Both Rab10 and its interacting proteins KIF13A and KIF13B are predominantly localized at tubular endosomes. The Rab10–KIF13 complex is likely to regulate the formation of tubular endosomes.

Summary: By examining desmosomal cadherin-mutant mice, a link between SRF-activation and ectopic skeletal muscle actin expression is described as a novel mechanism during arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy pathogenesis.

Summary: Under conditions of hypoxia, myofibroblast differentiation is impaired through induction of ARHGAP29, also revealing a link between the HIF and MRTF-A signaling pathways.

Summary: A conserved function for RAB-6.2 in epidermis integrity in C. elegans. The mechanism of action in the skin is independent from that previously described for this protein in retrograde trafficking.

Highlighted Article: Bbs4^−/− mice exhibited reduced olfactory sensory neuron cilia length/number and basal body number, as well as miscoordination of intraflagellar transport. Ectopic re-expression of BBS4 lengthened cilia, which alone was sufficient to rescue olfactory function.