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.
Yau and Rape discuss recent advances in our understanding of the many variations in ubiquitin chain topology and how these mediate ubiquitin-dependent signalling in the cell.
The skin forms a protective, water-impermeable barrier consisting of heavily crosslinked epithelial cells. However, the specific role of stem cells in sustaining this barrier remains a contentious issue. A detailed analysis of the interfollicular epidermis now proposes a model for how a composite of cells with different properties are involved in its maintenance.
Metabolic rewiring is essential for cancer cell survival. PGC1α, a transcriptional co-activator that is downregulated in prostate cancer, is now shown to control prostate cancer metabolism by activating an oxidative metabolic program that prevents tumour growth and metastatic dissemination.
The primary cilium and the process of autophagy are thought to be in a functionally reciprocal relationship. In further support of this link, fluid flow sensing by the primary cilium is now shown to induce autophagy, which in turn regulates the volume of kidney epithelial cells.
The function and regulation of repetitive DNA, the 'dark matter' of the genome, is still only rudimentarily understood. Now a study investigating DNA replication of repetitive centromeric chromosome segments has started to expose a fascinating replication program that involves suppression of ATR signalling, in particular during replication stress.
Mikkola and colleagues show that medial HOXA gene expression, induced by retinoic acid signalling, marks the establishment of the definitive HSC fate and controls HSC identity and function.
Using long-term lineage tracing and mathematical modelling, Tumbar and colleagues define two separate stem cell populations in the epidermis that are regionally clustered, molecularly distinct and show different proliferation dynamics.
Welte et al. report that mTOR signalling regulates G-CSF production and accumulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) to the tumour site, which promotes the tumour-initiating capacity of cancer cells by activating Notch signalling.
Torrano et al. use bioinformatics analyses to identify PGC1α as a transcriptional regulator of a metabolic program downstream of ERRα that opposes metastatic dissemination in prostate cancer.
Orhon et al. report that primary-cilium-mediated fluid flow sensing triggers autophagy through LKB1–AMPK–mTOR signalling, and thereby controls the volume of kidney epithelial cells.
Chromosome missegregation can lead to p53 activation to block proliferation of aneuploid cells. Hinchcliffe, Dong and colleagues find that generation and spreading of a histone H3.3 Ser31 phosphorylation mark mediates this response.
Pollard and colleagues demonstrate in vitro and in fission yeast that the LifeAct actin probe can affect actin filament nucleation and dynamics and perturb actin-dependent cellular processes unless low concentrations are used.
Costanzo and colleagues find, by reconstitution of repetitive centromeric DNA replication in Xenopus egg extracts, that replication is facilitated by suppression of ATR-mediated checkpoint signalling and formation of DNA loop structures.
The imaging of individually labelled sister chromatids allows Nagasaka et al. to conclude that mitotic sister chromatin resolution begins in prophase and depends on the activity of topoisomerase II and condensin II, but not on cohesin dissociation.
Zernicka-Goetz and colleagues report an in vitro culture system that recapitulates hallmarks of human embryo morphogenesis before gastrulation, including formation of the pro-amniotic cavity and appearance of the prospective yolk sac.
