Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: The mechanics of milk production. Confocal micrograph showing the mouse mammary gland during lactation. Milk-producing cells are shown in red, and milk-ejecting cells are shown in green, allowing exploration of the roles for ion channel-mediated mechanosignalling in the mammary gland. PIEZO1 Ca2+-permeable ion channels are not essential for lactation or post-lactational regression. See article by T. A. Stewart et al. (jcs248849).
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
FIRST PERSON
CELL SCIENTISTS TO WATCH
CELL SCIENCE AT A GLANCE
Translation initiation in cancer at a glance
Summary: The regulation of protein synthesis is altered in many cancers. This article discusses the role of translation initiation in cancer, including recent advances detailing new targets and therapeutic opportunities.
HYPOTHESIS
Hit the brakes – a new perspective on the loop extrusion mechanism of cohesin and other SMC complexes
Summary: Co-existing mechanisms underlying sister chromatid tethering and loop extrusion by structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) cohesins complex are discussed. The model is extended to include all eukaryotic SMC complexes.
REVIEW
Polarisome assembly mediates actin remodeling during polarized yeast and fungal growth
Summary: A review of how the molecular condensation machinery drives dynamic assembly of the yeast macromolecular polarisome complex, and thereby, its activities in actin polymerization and polarized growth.
SHORT REPORT
The association of Plk1 with the astrin–kinastrin complex promotes formation and maintenance of a metaphase plate
Highlighted Article: Plk1 binds to and phosphorylates the N-terminus of astrin. This promotes recruitment of the astrin complex to kinetochores and stabilises microtubule–kinetochore attachments in situations when mitosis is delayed.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Kindlin-2 promotes rear focal adhesion disassembly and directional persistence during cell migration
Summary: Cell migration is a polarized process that requires adhesion release at the cell rear. Kindlin-2 regulates actomyosin contraction and promotes focal adhesion disassembly and directional persistence at the cell rear.
Switching between blebbing and lamellipodia depends on the degree of non-muscle myosin II activity
Summary: Migratory plasticity between blebbing and lamellipodia in normal breast cells and breast cancer cells depends on non-muscle myosin II activity, which is fine tuned by ROCK and MLCK.
Histone chaperone APLF level dictates the implantation of mouse embryos
Summary: Expression and functional studies demonstrate that an epigenetic factor, histone chaperone APLF, plays a significant role in the development and implantation of mouse embryo.
Distinct roles for prominin-1 and photoreceptor cadherin in outer segment disc morphogenesis in CRISPR-altered X. laevis
Highlighted Article: Prominin-1 aligns and reinforces the leading edges and photoreceptor cadherin maintains higher-order organization. Both prominin-1 and photoreceptor cadherin regulate nascent disc membrane size.
The protein tyrosine phosphatase PTP-PEST mediates hypoxia-induced endothelial autophagy and angiogenesis via AMPK activation
Highlighted Article: The protein tyrosine phosphatase PTP-PEST is identified as a major regulator of hypoxia-induced AMPK activation in endothelial cells, which consequently leads to autophagy and angiogenesis.
Biphasic regulation of glutamine consumption by WNT during osteoblast differentiation
Summary: Inhibition of Slc7a7 or Slc1a5 glutamine transporters prevents WNT-stimulated uptake and blocks osteoblast differentiation, establishing Slc7a7 and Slc1a5 as critical mediators of this process.
The tight junction protein Claudin-5 limits endothelial cell motility
Summary: The tight junction protein Claudin-5 plays an essential role during zebrafish embryonic development by limiting the motility and enhancing the adhesion of arterial endothelial cells.
Concurrent depletion of Vps37 proteins evokes ESCRT-I destabilization and profound cellular stress responses
Summary: Endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT)-I destabilization upon concurrent depletion of Vps37 proteins is linked to the activation of a sterile inflammatory response and cell growth inhibition.
Mammary mechanobiology – investigating roles for mechanically activated ion channels in lactation and involution
Highlighted Article: PIEZO1 mechanically activated ion channels are enriched in the mouse mammary gland during lactation but are not essential for mammary epithelial cell function or post-lactational regression in vivo.
UNC-45A breaks the microtubule lattice independently of its effects on non-muscle myosin II
Highlighted Article: Analyses in vitro and in human and rat cells reveal that UNC-45A is a microtubule-destabilizing protein that acts on microtubules independently of its effects on non-muscle myosin II.
TOOLS AND RESOURCES
Gap junction internalization and processing in vivo: a 3D immuno-electron microscopy study
Summary: Serial-section electron microscopy combined with immunogold labeling shows that internalized gap junctions undergo complex processing of both inner and outer membranes.
Interviews with Biologists @ 100 conference speakers

Explore our interviews with keynote speakers from the Biologists @ 100 conference, hosted to celebrate our publisher’s 100th anniversary, where we discuss climate change and biodiversity with Hans-Otto Pörtner and Jane Francis, health and disease with Charles Swanton and emerging technologies with Manu Prakash and Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz.
Introducing our new Associate Editors

In this Editorial, JCS Editor-in-Chief Michael Way welcomes five new Associate Editors to the JCS team. These Associate Editors will expand our support for the wider cell biology community and handle articles in immune cell biology, proteostasis, imaging and image analysis, plant cell biology, and stem cell biology and modelling.
The spatial choreography of mRNA biosynthesis

In their Review, André Ventura-Gomes and Maria Carmo-Fonseca detail the latest research progress and technological advancements that are helping to unlock how nuclear organisation underpins control of gene transcription and pre-mRNA splicing.
JCS-FocalPlane Training Grants

Early-career researchers - working in an area covered by JCS - who would like to attend a microscopy training course, please apply. Deadline dates for 2025 applications: 6 June 2025 (decision by week commencing 28 July 2025) and 5 September 2025 (decision by week commencing 20 October 2025).
The emerging roles of the endoplasmic reticulum in mechanosensing and mechanotransduction

In their Review, Jonathan Townson and Cinzia Progida highlight recently emerging evidence for a role of the endoplasmic reticulum in enabling a cell to sense and respond to changes in the extracellular mechanical environment.