Cell death
- Alpha-synuclein fibrils recruit TBK1 and OPTN to lysosomal damage sites and induce autophagy in microglial cells
Summary: Autophagy dynamics of microglial cells stimulated with the neuropathogenic protein alpha-synuclein (AS) show that autophagy is activated as a response to control AS-induced lysosomal damage.
- Chronic starvation induces noncanonical pro-death stress granules
Summary: This work characterizes the mechanisms of formation of a novel type of stress granule that is induced in response to long-term starvation and, unlike previously described stress granules, functions in a pro-death capacity.
- Autophagy-dependent cell death – where, how and why a cell eats itself to death
Summary: A review of recent findings that demonstrate autophagy-dependent cell death in various contexts and begin to elucidate molecular mechanisms that render autophagy a lethal process.
- Inflammasome activation and assembly at a glance
Summary: This article and accompanying poster provides an outline of the concepts in the assembly of inflammasomes and cell death by pyroptosis.
- The initiator caspase Dronc plays a non-apoptotic role in promoting DNA damage signalling in D. melanogaster
Summary: Our study uncovers a novel function of Dronc in mediating the γH2Av response via ATM kinase, which, independent of its cell death function, facilitates DNA damage signalling and perhaps repair.
- Phosphorylation of XIAP by CDK1–cyclin-B1 controls mitotic cell death
Summary: Phosphorylation of XIAP by CDK1–cyclin-B1 controls the onset of mitotic cell death, which is important for surveillance against defects in mitosis and the response to cancer drugs that target cell division.
- Efferocytosis and extrusion of leukocytes determine the progression of early mycobacterial pathogenesis
Highlighted Article: Mycobacterial infection in zebrafish larvae was explored using a combination of light and electron microscopy. Macrophage burst events resulted in a progression of infection, whereas epithelium-mediated extrusion of infected immune cells abated infection.
- The selective inhibition of protein phosphatase-1 results in mitotic catastrophe and impaired tumor growth
Highlighted Article: Mitosis is an established target for cancer chemotherapy. We show that the inhibition of protein phosphatase PP1 causes an arrest in mid-mitosis that often culminates in cell death.