Volume 15 Issue 6, June 2014

Cyclin B1 and cyclin B2 regulate chromosome segregation through two distinct mechanisms.

Haematopoietic stem cells have an increased propensity to undergo apoptosis in response to cellular stress to prevent the propagation of damage.

CUL3–KLHL20-dependent Lys33-linked polyubiquitylation of CRN7 targets CRN7 to the TGN to facilitate post-Golgi transport.

PTENα is a novel PTEN isoform that interacts with PTEN to maintain mitochondrial structure and function.

Mammalian Dicer is recruited to loci of endogenously overlapping transcripts to promote the formation of heterochromatin.

Alfred Nordheim discusses how actin dynamics regulate the transcriptional activity of SRF.

The histone-fold protein Chrac14 controls chromatin mislocalization of CENPA and prevents aneuploidy after DNA damage.

Homologous recombination is crucial for genome stability and for genetic exchange. Our knowledge of homology search, the step in this process that explores the genome for homologous sequences to enable recombination, has been increased by recent methodological advances. These insights can be integrated into a mechanistic model of homology search.

Protein aggregation and amyloid deposition are associated with a wide range of medical disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and type II diabetes. Studies into the amyloid state are revealing fundamental principles that underlie the maintenance of protein homeostasis, and the origins of aberrant protein behaviour and disease.

Epithelial cells display dynamic behaviours, such as rearrangement, movement and shape changes. Evidence suggests that the remodelling of cell junctions, especially adherens junctions (AJs), has major roles in controlling these behaviours. It is also clear that RHO GTPases and their effectors regulate actin polymerization and actomyosin contraction at AJs during epithelial reshaping.

Although they are damaging when produced in large quantities, low levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) can function within specific signalling pathways, based on the reversible oxidation of crucial Cys residues in reduction–oxidation (redox)-sensitive target proteins. Understanding these pathways has implications for metabolic regulation, innate immunity, stem cell biology, tumorigenesis and ageing.

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Gottfried Schatz reflects on the consequences of science growth, the challenges for young generations of researchers and on what EMBO has done for them.