Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: A confocal image showing the proventriculus of the Drosophila first-instar larva marked for the novel smooth septate junction (sSJ)-associated membrane protein Hoka (green), F-actin (red) and DNA (blue). The sSJs contribute to the epithelial barrier, which restricts leakage of solutes through the paracellular route in epithelial cells of the Drosophila intestinal and renal system. Hoka is involved in sSJ organization and maintaining intestinal stem cell homeostasis in the Drosophila midgut. See article by Y. Izumi et al. (jcs257022).
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
STICKY WICKET
FIRST PERSON
CELL SCIENCE AT A GLANCE
Histone variants at a glance
Summary: Histone variants change the structural properties of nucleosomes by wrapping more or less DNA, altering nucleosome stability or carrying out specialized functions.
REVIEWS
A guide to accurate reporting in digital image acquisition – can anyone replicate your microscopy data?
Summary: This Review dissects what microscope settings should be included in a publication and the reasons they are essential for scientific reproducibility and data verification.
A guide to accurate reporting in digital image processing – can anyone reproduce your quantitative analysis?
Summary: This Review dissects what image processing parameters should be included in a publication, and the reasons they are essential for scientific reproducibility and data verification.
Pericyte mechanics and mechanobiology
Summary: This Review focuses on forces generated by pericytes, solid and fluid mechanical forces exerted on pericytes, and the mechanobiological responses of pericytes to these forces.
SHORT REPORT
Nuclear localization of p65 reverses therapy-induced senescence
Summary: p65 localization to the nucleus acts as a molecular switch to reverse therapy-induced senescence in GBM cells; therefore, use of p65 inhibitors in combination with senotherapeutics can induce permanent senescence of GBM cells.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Vimentin tunes cell migration on collagen by controlling β1 integrin activation and clustering
Highlighted Article: We propose a mechanism by which vimentin tunes collagen-dependent cell migration by modulating β1 integrin activation and clustering through a paxillin–talin molecular complex at focal adhesions.
Modified chromosome structure caused by phosphomimetic H2A modulates the DNA damage response by increasing chromatin mobility in yeast
Summary: The constitutively phosphorylated H2A-S129E mutant shows enhanced chromatin dynamics due to structural modifications, leading to efficient checkpoint and NHEJ repair, even in the absence of Rad9.
SEC24A facilitates colocalization and Ca2+ flux between the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria
Summary: The COPII coat protein SEC24A appears to have a moonlighting function in mediating contacts between mitochondria and ER.
Orbit/CLASP determines centriole length by antagonising Klp10A in Drosophila spermatocytes
Summary: A microtubule polymerising factor, Orbit, localises on centrioles and determines centriole length by antagonising Klp10A in Drosophila spermatocytes.
The voltage-gated sodium channel β2 subunit associates with lipid rafts by S-palmitoylation
Summary: The voltage-gated sodium channel β2 subunit associates with cholesterol-rich lipid rafts by means of S-palmitoylation, which may contribute to establishing its polarized cell surface localization.
Microtubule-independent movement of the fission yeast nucleus
Summary: A new form of nuclear movement in fission yeast, termed microtubule-independent nuclear movement, that is dependent on actin cables and on proteins involved in ER–plasma membrane contacts is described.
Identification of additional outer segment targeting signals in zebrafish rod opsin
Summary: Transgenic and expression analyses reveal a complex set of molecular features that function together as address labels to target opsin to the outer segment.
The novel membrane protein Hoka regulates septate junction organization and stem cell homeostasis in the Drosophila gut
Highlighted Article: Depletion of Hoka, a novel septate junction protein, from the Drosophila midgut results in the disruption of septate junctions, intestinal barrier dysfunction, stem cell overproliferation and epithelial tumors.
A nuclear export sequence promotes CRM1-dependent targeting of the nucleoporin Nup214 to the nuclear pore complex
Summary: A nuclear export sequence in Nup214 may help to localize the protein to the cytoplasmic side of the nuclear pore complex.
THOC4 regulates energy homeostasis by stabilizing TFEB mRNA during prolonged starvation
Highlighted Article: The mRNA-binding protein THOC4 modulates mRNA stability of TFEB for the maintenance of energy homeostasis during prolonged starvation.
DROSHA is recruited to DNA damage sites by the MRN complex to promote non-homologous end joining
Summary: DROSHA is part of the primary response to DNA damage and is recruited at double-strand breaks in an MRN-dependent manner. DROSHA fosters NHEJ repair and inhibits HR by controlling 53BP1 recruitment.
A lamin A/C variant causing striated muscle disease provides insights into filament organization
Highlighted Article: The lamin A/C H222P laminopathy mutation provides insights into lamin substructure organization.
A requirement for p120-catenin in the metastasis of invasive ductal breast cancer
Highlighted Article: Unexpected retention of p120 (and E-cadherin) in lung metastases from ductal breast cancer highlights prominent roles in late stage events associated with seeding and/or colonization of distant metastatic sites.
Endogenously expressed Ranbp2 is not at the axon initial segment
Summary: Previous reports of axon initial segment Ranbp2 are shown to be based on NF186-cross-reacting antibodies and the intrinsic ability of an N-terminal fragment of Ranbp2 to bind to stable microtubules.
Characterization of human bone marrow niches with metabolome and transcriptome profiling
Summary: Comparative transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses of two anatomically different regions of human bone marrow revealed them to be functionally distinct hematopoietic stem cell niches.
TRIP6 is required for tension at adherens junctions
Summary: Clarification of the relationship between two tension-regulated proteins, LIMD1 and TRIP6, and identification of a role for TRIP6 in regulating the organization of the actin cytoskeleton.
The lysosomotrope GPN mobilises Ca2+ from acidic organelles
Summary: Methods of releasing calcium from lysosomes are limited but characterization of the effects of GPN in primary cultured human fibroblasts confirmed that it probably targets acidic organelles.
Call for papers - Cilia and Flagella: from Basic Biology to Disease

We are welcoming submissions for our upcoming special issue: Cilia and Flagella: from Basic Biology to Disease. This issue will be coordinated by two Guest Editors: Pleasantine Mill (University of Edinburgh) and Lotte Pedersen (University of Copenhagen). Extended submission deadline: 31 March 2025.
History of our journals

As our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 years old, read about Journal of Cell Science’s journey and explore the history of each of our sister journals: Development, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open.
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.
Diversity of microtubule arrays in animal cells at a glance

In this Cell Science at a Glance article, Emma van Grinsven and Anna Akhmanova provide an overview of the diverse microtubule arrays present in differentiated animal cells and discuss how these arrays form and function.
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: 7 March 2025 (decision by week commencing 21 April 2025) and 6 June 2025 (decision by week commencing 28 July 2025).