Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 478 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2718

Authors: Andrew J. Holland & Don W. Cleveland

The mitotic checkpoint is a major cell cycle control mechanism that guards against chromosome missegregation and the subsequent production of aneuploid daughter cells. Most cancer cells are aneuploid and frequently missegregate chromosomes during mitosis. Indeed, aneuploidy is a common characteristic of tumours, and, for over

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 445 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2720

Authors: Peter Friedl & Darren Gilmour

The collective migration of cells as a cohesive group is a hallmark of the tissue remodelling events that underlie embryonic morphogenesis, wound repair and cancer invasion. In such migration, cells move as sheets, strands, clusters or ducts rather than individually, and use similar actin- and

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 442 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2722

Membrane trafficking

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 441 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2723

Cytoskeleton

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 437 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2725

Studying the movements of single cells has enabled great advances in our understanding of the general mechanisms that underlie cell migration. Effective cell migration requires the integration of localized and transient signals with changes in cellular architecture, cell adhesion and asymmetric polarization. As a result,

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 496 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2699

Author: Frances Stracey

Bio-art represents a crossover of art and the biological sciences, with living matter, such as genes, cells or animals, as its new media. Such manipulations of life require collaborations with scientists and considerable financial backing. Herein, I consider bio-art that goes 'under the skin' —

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 440 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2710

Author: Katharine H. Wrighton

The power of fluorescent proteins in biological research was acknowledged in 2008, when the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the scientists who discovered and pioneered the use of jellyfish green fluorescent protein (GFP). One of these Nobel laureates, Roger Tsien, is in the

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 442 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2711

Author: Alicia Chung

Intracellular trafficking ensures the proper delivery of proteins and lipids to different parts of the cell. However, the process by which lipids are sorted and enriched at the plasma membrane remains unclear. Klemm et al. now provide new insights into this process by showing

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 441 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2714

Author: Katharine H Wrighton

The extrinsic pathway of apoptosis is initiated when certain tumour necrosis factor superfamily ligands, such as APO2L (also known as TNFSF10 or TRAIL), activate cell surface death receptors. The ligand–receptor complex interacts with FAS-associated death domain protein, an adaptor protein that recruits caspase 8

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 440 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2715

Author: Arianne Heinrichs

Alternative splicing (AS) is thought to be a key response to DNA damage because many apoptotic genes are alternatively spliced, but the underlying mechanism is unknown. A new study by Kornblihtt and colleagues reports that ultraviolet (UV) irradiation triggers co-transcriptional AS, through the hyperphosphorylation of

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 458 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2708

Authors: Hitoshi Nakatogawa, Kuninori Suzuki, Yoshiaki Kamada & Yoshinori Ohsumi

Autophagy is a fundamental function of eukaryotic cells and is well conserved from yeast to humans. The most remarkable feature of autophagy is the synthesis of double membrane-bound compartments that sequester materials to be degraded in lytic compartments, a process that seems to be mechanistically

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 489 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2712

Author: Mitsuhiro Yanagida

In interphase, chromosomes are associated with proteins and RNAs that participate in many processes, such as DNA replication, transcription, recombination and repair of DNA damage. These components (for example, cohesin) might have to be removed during mitosis, as they might become obstacles that inhibit chromosome

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 444 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2716

Author: Francesca Cesari

Transcription factors (TFs) and their DNA-binding sites are crucial components of gene regulatory networks that control myriad cellular processes. However, the DNA-binding specificities of only a few TFs have been sufficiently characterized to enable the prediction of the sequences that they can and cannot bind

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 442 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2719

Author: Arianne Heinrichs

The 26S proteasome comprises the 20S proteolytic core particle (CP) and the 19S regulatory particle (RP), which consists of a lid subcomplex and a base subcomplex. Whereas the mechanisms underlying CP assembly are well established, little is known about how the RP forms. Several groups

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 468 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2717

Authors: Stephane Angers & Randall T. Moon

The Wnt family of secreted ligands act through many receptors to stimulate distinct intracellular signalling pathways in embryonic development, in adults and in disease processes. Binding of Wnt to the Frizzled family of receptors and to low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 (LRP5) or LRP6

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 443 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2721

Author: Simon Bishop

Mammalian fertility depends on luteinizing hormone (LH)-induced changes in ovarian follicular growth. A new study now reveals some of the signalling components that effect these changes.As oocytes mature and follicles grow, the somatic granulosa cells (GCs) in the ovarian follicle terminally differentiate into luteal

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 439 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2724

Author: Emily J. Chenette

Members of the AGC family of protein kinases, including the Akt (also known as protein kinase B (PKB)) proteins and PKC, have important functions in normal and pathological cellular processes. Studies on their mode of activation have shown that 'priming' phosphorylation events in the

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10, 444 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrm2709

Author: Norbert Perrimon

Major breakthroughs in science often originate from fundamental biological discoveries or significant technological or methodological advances. For those of us working with model organisms, methods that allow and facilitate the manipulation of genomes transform the field by enabling the creation of animals, tissues or cells