The ultrafast camera with single fluorescent-molecule sensitivities developed by Fujiwara et al. has greatly improved the time resolution of single-molecule localization microscopy, revealing the focal adhesion’s dynamic nano-architecture and leading to the model of compartmentalized archipelago of focal-adhesion protein islands.

An ultrafast camera developed by Fujiwara et al. allows single fluorescent-molecule imaging every 33 µs with a localization precision of 34 nm (every 100 µs; 20 nm) and enables ultrafast PALM imaging of whole live cells.

Illukkumbura et al. reveal that cluster-dependent tuning of membrane binding rather than size-dependent coupling to the actomyosin cortex enables differential transport of PAR proteins by cortical flows in the C. elegans zygote.

The mechanism of how mitotic kinetochores accomplish robust, long-distance coupling with spindle microtubule plus-ends during metaphase and anaphase is unknown. This work demonstrates that the replication licensing protein Cdt1 synergizes with kinetochore Ndc80 and the Ska1 complexes to form a tripartite Ndc80-Cdt1-Ska1 complex that processively tracks the plus-ends of dynamic microtubules.

Hakanpää et al. show that reticular adhesions are assembled at flat clathrin lattices, a process inhibited by fibronectin and its receptor, integrin α5β1. This novel adhesion assembly mechanism is coupled to cell migration and reveals a unique crosstalk between cell-matrix adhesions.

Ivanovska and Tobin plus coworkers show that fat-filled lipid droplets have a high interfacial tension which helps to maintain the sphericity of small droplets—even when interacting with the cytoskeleton and nucleus that can be deformed and sometimes disrupted by small droplets.

Yang et al. reveal an autoinhibitory mechanism of the centrosomin motif 1 and the relief of the autoinhibition by phosphorylation. This autoinhibition plays a role in controlling microtubule nucleation on centrosomes and the Golgi complex, and it also regulates centrosome positioning, Golgi assembly, and cell polarization.