IN THIS ISSUE
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CELL SCIENTISTS TO WATCH
MEETING REPORT
CELL SCIENCE AT A GLANCE
- Cellular functions of WASP family proteins at a glance
Summary: This article provides insight into new functions of WASP family proteins from regulating the biogenesis of autophagosomes to recently identified roles in the nucleus.
REVIEW
- Emerging roles of mechanical forces in chromatin regulation
Summary: This Review discusses the mechanisms by which the nucleus, and chromatin in particular, respond to changes in the mechanical microenvironment of the cell, resulting in architectural and transcriptional alterations, and thereby facilitating cellular adaption.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- TRAPPC13 modulates autophagy and the response to Golgi stress
Highlighted Article: Depletion of the mammalian TRAPPIII complex member TRAPPC13 makes cells resistant to Golgi stressors, diminishes Brefeldin A (BFA)-induced autophagy flux, and reduces Rab1a activity in response to BFA.
- Mechanisms mitigating problems associated with multiple kinetochores on one microtubule in early mitosis
Summary: Given that eukaryotic cells carry multiple chromosomes, multiple kinetochores could occasionally interact with a single microtubule. We identify problems associated with this situation and find mechanisms mitigating these problems.
- Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound promotes cell motility through vinculin-controlled Rac1 GTPase activity
Highlighted Article: LIPUS is a therapeutic intervention used to promote healing. We show that the mechanical signal is sensed by the FA protein vinculin to trigger intracellular signalling events, promoting cell motility.
- TRPC1 is a differential regulator of hypoxia-mediated events and Akt signalling in PTEN-deficient breast cancer cells
Summary: TRPC1 Ca2+ channels mediate hypoxia-associated cellular events via hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF1α)-dependent and -independent pathways in PTEN-deficient breast cancer cells.
- Localisation of Nup153 and SENP1 to nuclear pore complexes is required for 53BP1-mediated DNA double-strand break repair
Highlighted Article: Nup153, previously shown to be required for nuclear import of 53BP1, is also required for sumoylation of 53BP1, acting by displacing the SUMO protease SENP1, contributing to efficient DNA double-strand break repair.
- Redox regulation of the yeast voltage-gated Ca2+ channel homolog Cch1p by glutathionylation of specific cysteine residues
Summary: Cch1p, the yeast homolog of the pore-forming subunit α1 of mammalian VGCCs, is regulated by redox-dependent glutathionylation and deglutathionylation (mediated by Gtt1p, and Grx1p and Trx2p, respectively) of cysteine residues.
- Loss of β-PIX inhibits focal adhesion disassembly and promotes keratinocyte motility via myosin light chain activation
Highlighted Article: Unexpectedly, β-PIX loss in keratinocytes increases the migration speed of single cells and promotes collective cell migration during wound repair by promoting actomyosin fiber contraction.
- Secreted tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase restricts trans-synaptic signaling to coordinate synaptogenesis
Summary: At neuromuscular synapses, secreted Timp limits extracellular proteolytic activity to restrict BMP signaling from the muscle to the motor neuron. This mechanism controls synaptic architecture, function and locomotor behavior.
- Control of mitochondrial homeostasis by endocytic regulatory proteins
Highlighted Article: Mitochondrial homeostasis is maintained by fusion and fission, and is essential for healthy cells. We identify a novel endocytic protein, EHD1, that, together with its interaction partner rabankyrin-5, indirectly regulates mitochondrial fission.
- Caspase-9 has a nonapoptotic function in Xenopus embryonic primitive blood formation
Summary: Fluorescent transgenic reporter constructs detecting caspase activity were designed and integrated in Xenopus embryos, revealing an unexpected nonapoptotic function for the initiator caspase-9 in primitive blood formation.
- ARHGAP42 is activated by Src-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation to promote cell motility
Summary: ARHGAP42 is activated by Src-mediated Tyr-376 phosphorylation to inhibit RhoA, and promote focal adhesion dynamics and cell motility.
- Extracellular polyphosphate signals through Ras and Akt to prime Dictyostelium discoideum cells for development
Summary: Polyphosphate is present in all eukaryotes, but little is known about its function. Here, we describe how Dictyostelium uses polyphosphate as a signal to initiate development.
- Arf6 and Rab22 mediate T cell conjugate formation by regulating clathrin-independent endosomal membrane trafficking
Summary: Clathrin-independent endocytosis occurs in T cells and, together with activities of Arf6 and Rab22, can influence the ability of T cells to form a cell–cell conjugate with antigen-presenting cells.
- Reconstitution of the oocyte nucleolus in mice through a single nucleolar protein, NPM2
Summary: The oocyte nucleolus is successfully reconstituted by NPM2 protein, and serves as a key platform to organize pericentromeric heterochromatin in order to correctly segregate parental chromosomes.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST IN OUR OTHER JOURNALS
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Intramembrane proteolysis at a glance: from signalling to protein degradation
In this Cell Science at a Glance article and accompanying poster, Nathalie Kühnle, Verena Dederer and Marius K. Lemberg review our current knowledge on the function of intramembrane proteolysis in mammalian cells.
Meeting report – Cell dynamics: organelle–cytoskeleton interface
Binyam Mogessie, Helen Zenner and Jörg Renkawitz summarise the Journal of Cell Science’s second meeting that was held in Lisbon, Portugal, earlier this year.
Mole – Impact!
"We love to speculate that if a paper is completely wrong, it will receive a great many citations saying how wrong it is (actually, I don't think this is true; if it's wrong, we tend to just fuggetaboutit)."
Read Mole’s thoughts on the issue of impact in scientific literature.
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 Eric Clement Arakel, Alex Generous, Taylor Miller, Robert Bloodgood and Roger Sloboda, and Rachel Caines.
Journal of Cell Science announces Transparent peer review
In the interests of promoting transparency around the editorial process, Journal of Cell Science will now be publishing a ‘Peer review history’ file alongside published papers, where the author has opted in to such a file being published. All research papers submitted on or after 1 August 2019 are eligible. More information can be found here.
Journal of Cell Science (JCS), Journal of Cell Biology (JCB) and Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC) announce a new manuscript transfer option that will empower authors whose manuscripts have been declined to seamlessly transfer their manuscripts and associated peer review reports between the journals.
preLights - Single molecule mechanics resolves the earliest events in force generation by cardiac myosin
Alyson Smith highlights a preprint that captures the fastest events in myosin’s ATPase cycle, which have remained opaque to previous assays.
Catch up with other recent preLights selected for the cell science community.
Articles of interest in our sister journals
Syndapin constricts microvillar necks to form a united rhabdomere in Drosophila photoreceptors
Sakiko Ogi, Atsushi Matsuda, Yuna Otsuka, Ziguang Liu, Takunori Satoh, Akiko K. Satoh (Development 2019 146: dev169292)
Tiantian Ji, Lina Zhang, Mingxi Deng, Shengshuo Huang, Ying Wang, Tri Thanh Pham, Andrew Alan Smith, Varun Sridhar, Clemens Cabernard, Jiguang Wang, Yan Yan (Disease Models & Mechanisms 2019 12: dmm040147)