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The formation and maturation of focal adhesions involves significant changes in protein composition and requires acto-myosin contractility. A mass spectrometry approach reveals changes to the focal adhesion proteome on myosin inhibition, providing a valuable resource for the cell adhesion field.
Aneuploidy is one of the most prevalent phenotypes of human tumours, but the underlying cause of this phenomenon remains highly debated. Entosis, the invasion of a living cell into another cell's cytoplasm, is now shown to perturb cytokinesis and induce the formation of aneuploid cells.
The adult human heart lacks sufficient regenerative capacity to recover after a myocardial infarction. Cell-based therapy has emerged as a potential treatment for the failing heart; however, a key issue for the success of future cell-based therapies is the ability to obtain patient-specific high-quality cardiomyocytes in a fast and efficient manner. Recent progress has been made towards this goal using reprogramming-based approaches.
Cellular senescence is a potent tumour suppressor mechanism that is often accompanied by activation of DNA damage response (DDR) signalling and marked heterochromatinization. Senescence-associated heterochromatin is now shown to limit DDR, thus reducing apoptosis and promoting survival of senescent cells.
In response to major cellular insults, a massive increase in lysosomal membrane permeability (LMP) leads to necrosis. Data now reveal that this potent lysosomal-mediated necrotic cell-death machinery can also be harnessed for complex physiological processes, such as post-lactation mammary gland involution.
Glucose is an important source of energy and carbon, and is required for cell growth. As such, glucose utilization is increased in rapidly dividing cancer cells. The tumour suppressor p53 has now been reported to block a metabolic pathway (the pentose phosphate pathway) that diverts glucose away from bioenergetic into biosynthetic routes.
The interior of the eukaryotic cell nucleus is populated by a multitude of microscopic domains termed nuclear bodies. Despite having attracted much attention, how these compartments form and are maintained remained elusive. Now, two live-cell imaging studies provide compelling evidence that nascent RNAs can act as transiently immobilized scaffolds that recruit specific nuclear body proteins.
In the mouse embryo, the first differences between cells that result in distinct lineages have long been thought to arise only as a consequence of differential cell positioning at relatively late preimplantation stages. Differences in Oct4 transcription factor kinetics between cells at the 4–8-cell stage are now shown to be predictive of future lineages, providing further evidence for much earlier initiation of cell fate decisions.
