Deng et al. report an essential role for the spectrin-based membrane skeleton in specifying cell shape by transmitting intracellular actomyosin force to cell membrane. Their findings uncover an essential mechanism that couples cell shape, cortical tension, and Hippo signaling in tissue morphogenesis.

Mitochondria form a network that is constantly remodeled by fission and fusion. Abrisch et al. show that fission and fusion machineries converge at ER membrane contact sites (MCSs) to provide a unified platform where fission and fusion are coordinated to balance mitochondrial dynamics and morphology.

Nijenhuis et al. developed a robust optogenetic toolbox to reversibly reposition organelles in populations of cells with minimal adverse effects on endogenous transport. This work opens new opportunities to dissect intracellular transport and spatial cell biology.

Nup188 is part of the nuclear pore complex scaffold that is specifically required for heart development. As shown by Vishnoi et al., Nup188 also moonlights as a centrosome protein by binding directly to Cep152 and contributing to centriole duplication.

ER arrival sites (ERAS) that capture retrograde Golgi-to-ER COPI vesicles have not been well characterized. Roy Chowdhury et al. use the budding yeast Pichia pastoris to show that ERAS are physically and functionally linked to ER exit sites (ERES).

Stem cell activity has to be regulated throughout adult life to maintain tissue homeostasis. Li et al. find that the membrane-associated kinase Gilgamesh (Gish/CK1γ) restricts JNK signaling and Drosophila intestinal stem cell proliferation by phosphorylating and destabilizing Rho1.

Pemberton et al. characterize a molecular toolbox for the visualization and manipulation of phosphatidylinositol (PI) within intact cells. Results using these approaches define the steady-state distribution of PI across subcellular membrane compartments and provide new insights into the relationship between PI availability and polyphosphoinositide turnover.