Neurons and muscles must maintain structural contact despite mechanical strain. Ermanoska et al. identify a presynaptic actomyosin core at Drosophila neuromuscular junctions that coordinates with integrin adhesion receptors to sense and respond to tension changes, preserving neuron–muscle mechanical continuity.

Teixeira et al. identify the onconeural antigen CDR2 as an ER-localized adaptor for the microtubule-based motor cytoplasmic dynein-1 and show that CDR2 contributes to ER organization through its interaction with the integral ER membrane protein kinectin.

Pasolli, Meiring et al. describe tools to acutely relocate vimentin intermediate filaments by inducibly coupling them to microtubule motors. Rapid perinuclear clustering of vimentin had no strong effects on microtubules or actin but was accompanied by redistribution of mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum sheets, and reduced cell stiffness.

The authors identify the conserved unconventional class XV myosin, Myo15, an actin motor, as a novel regulator of presynaptic assembly and remodeling in Drosophila. They find Myo15 to be essential for presynaptic functional homeostatic plasticity and memory consolidation.

Lipid synthesis supports membrane growth and organelle biogenesis. Hwang et al. show that synthesis of sphingolipids, mainly long-chain bases, is essential to increasing nuclear membranes during cell division. Failure to make sphingolipids in human cells causes abnormal nuclear morphology and genomic instability.

Cantwell et al. utilize Ciona and Xenopus systems to uncover conserved differential CK2 regulation of the RanGTP pathway of spindle assembly in meiosis and mitosis, contributing to the rapid, dramatic change in spindle morphology seen at the meiosis-to-mitosis transition in very early embryogenesis.

The PAX3-FOXO1 fusion gene suppresses TGFβ signaling and cell–ECM interactions by stimulating nitric oxide synthesis in fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma. This finding reveals that the subtype-defining molecule promotes anchorage independence and may contribute to distinct clinical behavior of rhabdomyosarcoma subtypes, suggesting subtype-specific therapies in this pediatric sarcoma.