Issues

Huang and Winklbauer show that diffuse cytoplasmic Prickle1 and Dishevelled-2 regulate cortical F-actin assembly and cortical tension to promote cell–cell adhesion and cell rearrangement in the Xenopus gastrula, whereas cell separation and trailing edge retraction are correlated with Pk-1 puncta.

Abu Rmaileh et al. demonstrate that the axon guidance adaptor protein DPYSL2 is essential for promoting breast cancer cell migration. Specifically, this adaptor protein interacts with JAK1 to regulate STAT3 signaling and subsequently vimentin expression.

Most forms of cancer involve a step where cells move out of an epithelial layer, a step that requires the loss of the apical domain of epithelial cells. We show how this loss of polarity is regulated at multiple levels by key polarity proteins.

Cail et al. demonstrate that induced nanoscale membrane curvature can recruit endocytic proteins and produce cargo-laden vesicles without the coat protein clathrin; however, the induced curvature does not bypass AP2 and FCHo1/2 functions. This work suggests that the essential function of clathrin is to physically stabilize the curvature of the evolving vesicle.

Zhang et al. reconstitute branching microtubule nucleation using native and recombinant human augmin–γ-TuRC complex and highlight the importance of the adaptor protein NEDD1 and CDK1/PLK1-mediated phosphorylation in this process. This study also unravels a novel augmin’s oligomerization-dependent mechanism for γ-TuRC activation.

Ahmad and colleagues report that presynaptic accumulation of NRG3 involves multiple processes that include release of the EGF-containing domain from the TGN following BACE1 cleavage, transcytosis from somatodendritic to axonal plasma membranes, and selective retention at glutamatergic terminals through trans-synaptic interactions with postsynaptic ErbB4 receptors.

The formation of high-order molecular assemblies is common among kinases and stress sensor proteins. However, no such mechanism has been described for the ISR kinase PKR. This study shows that PKR forms clusters in response to stress to fine-tune enzyme–substrate encounters and buffer PKR signaling.

Unconventional protein secretion (UPS) mediates protein exocytosis without entering the ER-Golgi secretory route. Here, Wang et al. report SMGL-1 acts as a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for RAB-8 to facilitate apical UPS of integral proteins in Caenorhabditiselegans intestinal epithelia.

The authors identify the negative regulating function of STING in energy stress-induced autophagy in Drosophila, mice exercising model, and cultured cells. Mechanistically, STING downregulates the autophagic fusion process by sequestering autophagic SNARE protein STX17 on ER and inhibits its translocation toward complete autophagosome.

Vega-Lugo, da Rocha-Azevedo et al. analyze three-color microscopy images to determine whether the colocalization between two molecular entities is influenced by their colocalization with a third entity, providing evidence for cooperativity or competition between molecular interactions and for their enhancement or suppression at subcellular locations.

The machinery and cellular mechanisms involved in multivesicular body (MVB) biogenesis are not fully understood. Shi et al. reveal that the F-actin crosslinker FLN-2/filamin acts as a bridging molecule that docks MVB on the actin cytoskeleton to facilitate MVB biogenesis.