Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Growing evidence suggests that semaphorins — known to provide directional cues during axon guidance — also provide regulatory signals for cell migration during tissue morphogenesis. During heart development, it is crucial that semaphorins can signal bidirectionally, functioning as both a ligand and a receptor. Through these distinct signalling pathways, semaphorins can provide both 'stop' and 'go' signals for cell motility and invasive growth.
Over more than three decades, sporadic and circumstantial evidence has accumulated to suggest that nuclear actin has crucial functions in RNA polymerase II-based transcription. Now, using a biochemical approach, β-actin has been identified as a highly specific, constitutive component of the active transcriptional complex required for formation of the pre-initiation transcription complex.
The MRL protein family is emerging as a new connection between signalling, adhesion and cell motility. Two members, lamellipodin and RIAM, can regulate both actin assembly and cell adhesion, which raises many questions about how their interactions with Ena/VASP proteins, Ras-related GTPases and membranes orchestrate these key processes.