Issues

The tumor suppressor Merlin/NF2 inhibits the proliferation of confluent cells by regulating tension at the apical cell cortex.

Peri tracks the machinations of these guardians of healthy brains.

In C. elegans, a meiotic checkpoint monitors synapsis between homologous chromosomes. Mad1, Mad2, and Bub3 are required for this checkpoint and negatively regulate synapsis, suggesting a possible role for these proteins in monitoring the stability of homologue pairing.

Stable intronic sequence RNAs (sisRNAs) are present in Drosophila melanogaster, and a sisRNA modulates its host gene expression by repressing a long noncoding RNA during embryogenesis.

Tracking the kinetics of equilibration of H₂O₂ between compartments reveals unexpected isolation of the endoplasmic reticulum and hints at a hitherto unsuspected local source of peroxide.

Visualization of nascent lipid droplets reveals that they form lens-like structures inside the ER membrane bilayer and that FIT proteins are necessary for lipid droplet protrusion toward the cytoplasm.

The plasma membrane targeting of Lgl, a key polarity and tumor suppressor protein, is mediated by electrostatic interactions between a polybasic motif in Lgl and phospholipids on the plasma membrane, and this mechanism is regulated by hypoxia and aPKC-phosphorylation.

The apical glycoprotein gp135 is delivered to a ring at the base of the primary cilium and subsequently moves in a radial fashion away from the cilium in a microtubule-dependent manner.

The fission yeast nucleoporin Nup132 is required for timely assembly of outer kinetochore proteins during meiotic prophase and its depletion activates the spindle assembly checkpoint in meiosis I, suggesting a role in establishing monopolar spindle attachment through outer kinetochore reorganization at meiotic prophase.

Upon offloading to Num1 cortical receptor sites in budding yeast, cytoplasmic dynein motility is switched “on” by a mechanism that likely involves Num1-mediated dissociation of the Pac1 inhibitor, a homologue of human LIS1.

Herpes simplex virus particles that enter the cell do not randomly associate with microtubule filaments, but require plus end–binding proteins EB1, CLIP-170, and dynactin to initiate retrograde transport to the nucleus.

Interaction of plasma membrane ARF6 with JIP3/JIP4 effectors on MT1-MMP endosomes coordinates dynactin–dynein and kinesin-1 activity in a tug-of-war mechanism for endosome tubulation and MT1-MMP exocytosis to promote breast cancer cell invasion.

The HIV protein Vpr interacts with EB1, p150^Glued, and dynein heavy chain and perturbs the centripetal movement of phagosomes and their maturation, resulting in impaired phagolysosome biogenesis, which is important for bacterial clearance and cytokine production.

Impaired turnover of newly synthesized mitochondrial proteins of the oxidative phosphorylation complexes leads to protein over-accumulation in the inner mitochondrial membrane, thereby generating a stress that dissipates the mitochondrial membrane potential and therefore compromises organelle and cellular fitness.

Merlin and Ezrin are central to a mechanism whereby mechanical forces transduced across the apical actomyosin cytoskeleton from cell junctions control the mobility and internalization of EGFR, providing novel insight into how cells inhibit mitogenic signaling in response to cell contact.

A novel tension-sensitive junctional protein, synaptopodin, can relay biophysical input from cellular actomyosin contractility to induce biochemical changes at cell–cell contacts, resulting in structural reorganization of the junctional complex and epithelial barrier maturation.

Drosophila Rootletin organizes rootlets in sensory neurons, where it transmits multiple sensory inputs and maintains basal body cohesion, yet it is not required for cilium stability.

Phosphoproteomic and functional analysis of the developmental progression of Trypanosomes demonstrates that this transition shows bistability, with commitment to differentiation requiring new protein synthesis, and that the protein kinase NRK is a key regulator.

The Drosophila ovarian niche produces Hh molecules, which promote germline differentiation by suppressing niche-derived JAK/STAT signaling activity to maintain a low level of Dpp expression in escort cells.