Pfitzner, Zivkovic, et al. characterize a novel membrane-bound ESCRT-III copolymer initiated by Vps60. They show that Vps60-based copolymers are in vitro spatially and biochemically distinct from classical Snf7-based ESCRT-III filaments. Different behavior of both ESCRT-III filaments in cells furthermore suggests potential diverse functions in vivo.

Legal et al. use cryo-electron tomography to study the tips of motile cilia. They reveal novel structural features of the central pair, expand on the functional role of CEP104/FAP256, and identify potential new proteins that are important for the stability of the ciliary tip.

Drosophila border cells are an excellent model to study fundamental cell behaviors. Torres et al show that elevated and localized Src activity in border cells induces cannibalism of neighboring cells by aberrantly activating phagocytosis with implications for the role of Src in cancer progression.

Metastatic spread of ovarian cancer is associated with multicellular spheroids shed from the primary tumor into the peritoneal cavity. Pawar et al. show that overactive matriptase activates a PAR-2/PI3K/Akt/MMP9 signaling axis to enhance spheroid dissemination and metastasis.

Pellegrino et al. show that Mtb infection triggers an increase in the number of peroxisomes and peroxisomal ROS in human macrophages. Macrophages lacking peroxisomes are unable to restrict Mtb infection due to a decreased source of ROS, uncovering a new role for peroxisomes in the host response.

Melanoma cells exist in a bidirectional communication unit with lesional keratinocytes. In this niche, melanoma cells hijack keratinocyte signaling, causing them to produce promigratory chemokines through the downregulation of keratinocyte desmosomal cadherin Dsg1, leading to increased migration in vitro and an associated epidermal spread in vivo.

Qi et al. report a novel UHRF1 function as a nuclear protein catalyzing EG5 polyubiquitination for proper spindle architecture and faithful genomic transmission, which is independent of its roles in epigenetics and DNA damage repair. These findings reveal a previously unknown mechanism of UHRF1 controlling mitotic spindle architecture and chromosome behavior.