Issues

Study identifies pathway that alters hippocampal synapses after exposure to morphine.

Katja Röper investigates how cytoskeletal behaviour controls tissue morphogenesis.

Michael Brandeis discusses the identification of the E3 ligase responsible for cyclin B1 degradation and mitotic slippage in cancer cells.

Kay discusses the recent characterization of the different modes of retinal ganglion cell migration and their cell biological basis.

Cells arrested in mitosis by inactivation of the APC/C complex sometimes manage to exit mitosis in a process called mitotic slippage, which helps cancer cells circumvent chemotherapy drugs. Balachandran et al. show that mitotic slippage occurs as a result of targeting of cyclin B1 for degradation by the ligase CRL2^ZYG11.

The mechanisms and determinants preserving lysosomal membrane stability are unclear. Here, Li et al. show that the lysosomal membrane protein SCAV-3, the Caenorhabditis elegans homologue of human LIMP-2, is a key regulator of lysosome integrity and normal adult lifespan.

Zhu et al. show that CHCHD2, a mitochondrial protein, primes the differentiation potential of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to neuroectodermal lineages through binding and sequestering SMAD4 to the mitochondria and suppressing the activity of the TGFβ signaling pathway. CHCHD2 expression could be a useful tool to assay hiPSC differentiation potential.

Activation of mast cells through IgE and antigen triggers the release of secretory granules that contain factors responsible for anaphylactic responses. Munoz et al. show that kinesin-1 regulates mast cell degranulation through PI3K-dependent formation of a kinesin-1/Slp3/Rab27b complex.

Eph/ephrins drive cell segregation and boundary formation. O’Neill et al. discover that segregation is driven by unidirectional kinase-dependent EphB signaling. Unidirectional signaling generates a cortical actin differential between ephrin-B1– and EphB2-expressing cells and requires ROCK activity for cell segregation.

Monaco et al. demonstrate that calcium signals in activated human T cells consist of a cytoplasmic and a nuclear component, which are both required for the immune response. Blockade of nuclear calcium signaling inhibits T cell activation and induces an anergy-like state.

Cai et al. demonstrate that morphine exposure dysregulates synaptic balance in the hippocampus. This effect involves a novel pathway involving ROS, ER stress, and autophagy and can be rescued by PDGF.

Icha et al. show that retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) can move by two different modes across the embryonic zebrafish retina and that correct RGC translocation is crucial for neuronal lamination and retinal development.

Joensuu et al. describe a tool for subdiffractional tracking of internalized molecules. They reveal that synaptic vesicles exhibit stochastic switching between heterogeneous diffusive and transport states in live hippocampal nerve terminals.