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The heart is a complex organ, consisting of multiple cell types that coordinately regulate blood flow. Reciprocal Notch pathway signalling in endocardial and myocardial cells is now shown to promote maturation of the ventricular chambers. These insights reveal mechanisms that, when disrupted, can lead to cardiomyopathies.
The heptameric Arp2/3 complex generates branched actin filament networks that drive lamellipodium protrusion, vesicle trafficking and pathogen motility. Distinct variants of the Arp2/3 complex are now shown to have different roles in tuning actin assembly and disassembly, in concert with the prominent actin regulators cortactin and coronin.
Nowell et al. report that chronic inflammation of the corneal epithelium activates β-catenin signalling through YAP/TAZ-dependent mechanotransduction, leading to epidermal differentiation on the ocular surface and corneal squamous cell metaplasia.
Meyer and colleagues use fluorescent biosensors to demonstrate that chemotactic steering and cell polarization are controlled by locally excitable Cdc42 signalling.
Théry and colleagues find that the centrosome can participate in actin-filament assembly in a manner that is mediated by WASH and Arp2/3 and requires the presence of pericentriolar material.
Dixon and colleagues and Guo and colleagues find that phosphorylation of the 19S proteasome subunit Rpt3 by DYRK2 increases proteasome activity and promotes cell proliferation, whereas loss of Rpt3 phosphorylation inhibits tumour formation in mice.
Way and colleagues use in vitro assays and the vaccinia virus actin-based motility system to demonstrate that the subunit composition of the Arp2/3 complex defines distinct properties in actin filament assembly.
Rousso et al. describe the dynamics of exocytosis in the Drosophila salivary gland. They show that Dia and Rok regulate the formation of an actomyosin coat around the vesicle, with a contractile myosin II case-like structure driving content release.
Johannes and colleagues report that retrograde trafficking of non-liganded β1 integrin from the plasma membrane to the trans-Golgi network to then be secreted in a polarized manner is needed for cell adhesion and persistent migration.
De la Pompa and colleagues show that Dll4-mediated Notch signalling regulates trabeculation in the developing mouse endocardium, whereas Jag1/2-mediated Notch signalling in the myocardium drives compaction and ventricular maturation.
By tracking the division outcomes of thousands of single cells, Jones and colleagues show that primary human keratinocyte proliferation in culture is either expanding, producing proliferating progeny, or balanced, thereby producing proliferating and differentiating progeny.
Vargas et al. report that innate immune signalling activation controls dendritic cell migration mode and function by regulating distinct F-actin networks at the cell front and rear.
Fuchs and colleagues conducted an in vivo screen of cancer-associated microRNAs and identified a tumour-promoting role for miR-21∗ in squamous cell carcinoma.
Sheetz and colleagues use micropillar arrays to report that the regulation of rigidity sensing involves the tropomyosin-dependent control of the stepwise contractions needed to reach a force level sufficient for integrin adhesion reinforcement.
Lacaud and colleagues show that the GFI1 transcriptional repressors are required for endothelial-to-haematopoietic transition in the aorta–gonad–mesonephros region of the mouse embryo by inhibiting the endothelial gene expression program via LSD1.
Spatiotemporally distinct pluripotent states captured in vitro provide an accessible way of modelling early human development. An intricate interplay between the metabolome and histone modifications is now shown to drive the metabolic switch from human naive to primed pluripotency, one of the earliest steps of embryogenesis.
A powerful combination of two-colour imaging in vivo, Fourier-filtered kymography and simulations provides a high-resolution view of kinesin-2 transport dynamics in cilia. This study reveals heterotrimeric kinesin-II as an 'obstacle-course runner' and homodimeric OSM-3 (KIF17) as a 'long-distance runner', and elucidates the 'baton handoff' between these two kinesin-2 motors on the microtubule track.
In the mission to reduce irreproducibility, true change can only come about if all stakeholders — researchers, institutions, funders and journals — join together with common purpose.