Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Winning image from the 2023 FocalPlane image competition, ‘Neuromuscular Junctions’, taken by Rebecca Simkin. The image is a maximum-intensity z projection of four neuromuscular junctions in a lumbrical muscle, located in the hind paw of a wild-type mouse. Whole-mount immunostaining was performed using 2H3 and SV2 antibodies to visualise neurofilaments and synaptic vesicles, respectively, in lower motor neurons (green), and α-bungarotoxin to label post-synaptic acetylcholine receptors (magenta). The image was acquired using an LSM780 confocal microscope in the Department of Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. Colours were enhanced using Fiji.
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
STICKY WICKET
CELL SCIENTISTS TO WATCH
CELL SCIENCE AT A GLANCE
Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 at a glance
Summary: We provide a snapshot of the current understanding of the biology and pathological roles of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2.
REVIEW
Mitochondrial phospholipid metabolism in health and disease
Summary: In this Review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of the cellular biochemistry of mitochondrial phospholipids and provide an overview of rare human genetic disorders of mitochondrial phospholipid metabolism.
SHORT REPORT
Actomyosin-dependent cell contractility orchestrates Zika virus infection
Summary: Zika virus (ZIKV) poses an increasing threat to human health. We provide evidence to support a positive correlation between host cell contractility and ZIKV infection efficacy.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Y-27632 acts beyond ROCK inhibition to maintain epidermal stem-like cells in culture
Summary: Y-27632 conditionally reprograms epidermal stem cells not only by inhibiting Rho kinases but also via an unidentified mechanism, contrary to the presumption that Rho kinase inhibition alone renews epidermal stem cells.
p53 amyloid pathology is correlated with higher cancer grade irrespective of the mutant or wild-type form
Summary: The level of p53 amyloid, whether wild-type or mutant, is highly correlated with oral and stomach cancer grades. p53 amyloid can aggregate p63 and p73 in a grade-dependent manner.
The cortical microtubules of Toxoplasma gondii underlie the helicity of parasite movement
Highlighted Article: Motility is essential for apicomplexan parasites to infect their hosts. The spirally arranged cortical microtubules underlie the helicity of movement of the human parasite Toxoplasma gondii.
Distinct role of TGN-resident clathrin adaptors for Vps21p activation in the TGN–endosome trafficking pathway
Summary: The clathrin adaptors Ent3p, Ent5p and AP-1 regulate Vps9p localization to Vps21p compartments and are recruited to the trans-Golgi network by GGA adaptors, yeast Rab11s and phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate.
Salinomycin disturbs Golgi function and specifically affects cells in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition
Highlighted Article: Salinomycin impairs the morphology and function of the Golgi and blocks proper post-translational modification and sorting of proteins, to which EMT cells are particularly susceptible.
TOOLS AND RESOURCES
Matrisome AnalyzeR – a suite of tools to annotate and quantify ECM molecules in big datasets across organisms
Summary: Matrisome AnalyzeR is a suite of tools, including a web-based app and an R package, designed to facilitate the annotation and quantification of extracellular matrix components in big datasets.
FIRST PERSON
CORRECTION
Correction: Involvement of the VEGF receptor 3 in tubular morphogenesis demonstrated with a human antihuman VEGFR-3 monoclonal antibody that antagonizes receptor activation by VEGF-C
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). Submission deadline: 1 March 2025.
Biologists @ 100 - join us in Liverpool in March 2025
We are excited to invite you to a unique scientific conference, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists, and bringing together our different communities. The conference will incorporate the Spring Meetings of the BSCB and the BSDB, the JEB Symposium Sensory Perception in a Changing World and a DMM programme on antimicrobial resistance. Find out more and register your interest to join us in March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.
Principles and regulation of mechanosensing
Mechanics play a fundamental role in cell physiology and represent physical mechanisms which cells use to influence function from the molecular to tissue scale. In this Review, Stefano Sala and colleagues clearly define mechanosensing and mechanotransduction, illustrate various mechanosensing mechanisms and discuss methods that cells use to regulate these processes.
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 2024 applications: 7 September (decision by week commencing 8 October 2024); 22 November (decision by week commencing 16 December).
HIV-1 assembly – when virology meets biophysics
Claire Lacouture and colleagues review mechanisms of assembly of the HIV-1 structural protein Gag from biophysical and biological perspectives. The researchers highlight how HIV-1 Gag hijacks host cell factors associated with cortical actin machinery to make new viral particles.