Table of Contents
EDITORIAL
CELL SCIENTISTS TO WATCH
CELL SCIENCE AT A GLANCE
- Embryo–epithelium interactions during implantation at a glance
Summary: At implantation, attachment of embryonic trophectoderm alters epithelial polarity and invasive trophoblast differentiates. We describe cellular and molecular events during the epithelial phase in rodent and human.
COMMENTARIES
- Seeing is believing – multi-scale spatio-temporal imaging towards in vivo cell biology
Summary: This Commentary provides an overview of the imaging technologies currently available for performing cell biology in vivo.
- Microtubules in 3D cell motility
Summary: We discuss microtubule functions that control cell shape and motility in 3D matrices, and the differences of microtubule involvement in cell morphogenesis and motility between 2D and 3D environments.
- How cells respond to environmental cues – insights from bio-functionalized substrates
Summary: Cells are sensitive to some biophysical aspects of the environment. This Commentary reviews how bio-functionalized substrates can be used to analyze how cells sense and interact with their environment.
- 3D culture models of tissues under tension
Summary: Engineered 3D cultures of cells have mainly focused on epithelial tissues. In this Commentary, advances in engineered microtissue systems to model fibrous tissues under mechanical load are discussed.
- Tissue mechanics regulate brain development, homeostasis and disease
Summary: In this Commentary, the roles of cell and tissue mechanics in brain development, homeostasis and neural degeneration, as well as in brain cancer, are reviewed.
SHORT REPORTS
- 3D electron tomography of brain tissue unveils distinct Golgi structures that sequester cytoplasmic contents in neurons
Summary: The power of new 3D imaging technologies, and optimal preservation of tissue samples, has helped to identify previously uncharacterized Golgi structures that sequester cytoplasmic material in neurons.
- Epidermal growth factor suppresses intestinal epithelial cell shedding through a MAPK-dependent pathway
Summary: Regulated cell shedding is important for epithelial tissue turnover, but the signals controlling it are poorly understood. This study shows that epidermal growth factor suppresses shedding through MAPK activation.
- Myosin II governs collective cell migration behaviour downstream of guidance receptor signalling
Summary: Non-muscle myosin II (NMII) is the key regulator for the control of border cell behaviours. Positively regulated by EGFR, NMII induces the switch of border cell movement from linear to rotational.
- A basal cell defect promotes budding of prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia
Summary: A dynamic 3D model of HG-PIN was created using immortalized human prostate epithelial cells with a basal cell defect. The model can be used to test molecular events that disrupt cancer progression.
- EphA2 proteomics in human keratinocytes reveals a novel association with afadin and epidermal tight junctions
Summary: EphA2 was used as a prototypical receptor tyrosine kinase to map a signaling protein interaction network in 2D and 3D stratified epithelial tissue cultures composed of primary human skin cells.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Cell-cycle-dependent TGFβ–BMP antagonism regulates neural tube closure by modulating tight junctions
Summary: By modulating tight junctions, cell-cycle-dependent interactions among the TGFβ, BMP and apicobasal polarity pathways create a dynamic neural epithelium that can be shaped to form a closed neural tube.
- Morphological process of podocyte development revealed by block-face scanning electron microscopy
Summary: The unique 3D architecture of podocytes is difficult to visualize by conventional SEM. In this study, the developmental process of podocytes was investigated by block-face SEM imaging.
- Cell polarity defines three distinct domains in pancreatic β-cells
Summary: 3D imaging methods identify three structural and functional domains within β-cells in islets: apical, lateral and basal.
- Applied stretch initiates directional invasion through the action of Rap1 GTPase as a tension sensor
Summary: Tension applied through 3D matrices directs invasion of tumor cells along the tensional axis. Rap1 senses the tension and polarizes the cytoskeletal and subsequent adhesion remodeling.
- The cytostome–cytopharynx complex of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes disassembles during cell division
Summary: As shown by focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy, the cytostome–cytopharynx complex of T. cruzi epimastigotes disassembles in mitosis, to assemble again in each daughter cell at the end of cell division.
- Deep nuclear invaginations are linked to cytoskeletal filaments – integrated bioimaging of epithelial cells in 3D culture
Summary: Fluorescence and electron microscopy analysis of HMECs grown in 3D reveals deep nuclear invaginations and tunnels that wrap around cytoskeleton cables, thus connecting the microenvironment to the nucleus.
- Increased ROS production in non-polarized mammary epithelial cells induces monocyte infiltration in 3D culture
Summary: Increased ROS levels contribute to the disruption of polarized acinar structures and induce monocyte recruitment through induction of the NF-κB pathway and cytokine expression.
- Comparison of cancer cells in 2D vs 3D culture reveals differences in AKT–mTOR–S6K signaling and drug responses
Summary: Colon cancer spheroids have decreased AKT–mTOR–S6K activity, spatial differences in signaling intensity as well as differing responses upon inhibition of the AKT–mTOR–S6K or MAPK axes in comparison with 2D cultures.
- Pax8 controls thyroid follicular polarity through cadherin-16
Summary: Using a 3D culture model of thyroid morphogenesis, it is revealed that thyroid follicular cell polarity depends on the Pax8 transcription factor and is linked to the β1-integrin–laminin pathway through Cdh16.
- Ultrasound patterning technologies for studying vascular morphogenesis in 3D
Summary: Acoustic patterning techniques provide a non-invasive method to direct the spatial organization of endothelial cells within 3D collagen hydrogels and, in turn, control microvessel morphogenesis.
- ZO-1 interactions with F-actin and occludin direct epithelial polarization and single lumen specification in 3D culture
Summary: ZO-1–occludin interactions provide signals that are required for polarization and 3D morphogenesis; these results elucidate the contributions of tight junction structural proteins to 3D epithelial organization.
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
- Three-dimensional imaging of the intracellular assembly of a functional viral RNA replicase complex
Summary: Study of virus and cell functions by molecular mapping and three-dimensional imaging of a viral replication complex using a clonable tag for electron microscopy analysis.
- A toolbox to study epidermal cell types in zebrafish
Summary: Here we introduce tools to easily track, ablate or monitor subsets of cells in the developing zebrafish epidermis, providing an excellent in vivo model system to study a living epithelium.
- 3D correlative light and electron microscopy of cultured cells using serial blockface scanning electron microscopy
Summary: A new workflow for 3D correlative light and electron microscopy of cell monolayers, applied to studies of M.-tuberculosis-infected cells, HIV-1-infected cells and entotic cell-in-cell structures.
- Shear-wave elasticity measurements of three-dimensional cell cultures for mechanobiology
Summary: Use of a non-direct-contact platform for measurement of the spatiotemporal dynamics of matrix elasticity when remodeled by cells cultured in three-dimensional contexts.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST IN OUR OTHER JOURNALS
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Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Cell science at a glance – Viral escape from endosomes and host detection at a glance
In this poster and article Jacqueline Staring, Matthijs Raaben and Thijn R. Brummelkamp summarize the current knowledge on the escape of viruses from the endosomal compartment and the cellular detection mechanisms that counteract it.
Review - The interplay between exosomes and autophagy
Jing Xu, Robert Camfield and Sharon M. Gorski review the molecular machinery shared between exosome biogenesis and the autophagy pathway, and describe the ‘partners in crime’ coordination between these two processes in multiple contexts, including neurodegeneration and cancer.
First Person interviews
Have you seen our First Person interviews with the early-career first authors of our papers? The authors talk about their work in and out of the lab, the journeys that led them to where they are now and the scientists who inspired them along the way. Recently, we caught up with first authors Kevin Adam, Vibha Singh and Jan Steinkühler.
Research highlight – Cytosolic cMyBP-C binds to sarcoplasmic reticulum RyR2
Cardiac muscle contraction is initiated by calcium channel RyR2, and immunoglobulin cMyBP-C is a major regulator of acto-myosin cross-bridge kinetics and myocardial contraction. In a new Research Article, Anthony Lai and colleagues provide the first evidence for a functional association between these two vital cardiac proteins, with potential clinical relevance for inherited cardiac disorders.
JCS Meeting – Cell dynamics: organelle-cytoskeleton interface
The second in our series of cell dynamics meetings now turns to organelles. This May 2019 meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, aims to bring together scientists studying the interface between organelles and the cytoskeleton at different scales and perspectives using a range of model systems. Find out more and register your interest here. Registration opens in September.
preLights – Light at the end of the tunnel?
Gautam Dey highlights a preprint from David Stephens and colleagues that describes a new reporter for pulsed collagen secretion, providing support for a direct route from ER to Golgi. The preLight also features a response from the authors on the potential of their tool to define different aspects of procollagen trafficking, and opening the door for a machine-learning collaboration.
Articles of interest in our sister journals
Christian Ghiglione, Patrick Jouandin, Delphine Cérézo, Stéphane Noselli. Development 2018 145: dev161117
Induced cell fate transitions at multiple cell layers configure haustorium development in parasitic plants
Takanori Wakatake, Satoko Yoshida, Ken Shirasu. Development 2018 145: dev164848