Table of contents
From the editors
p337 | doi:10.1038/nrm2177
Research Highlights
Apoptosis: WAH-1 and SCRM-1 make lipids flip
p339 | doi:10.1038/nrm2176
Cell death: The clock is ticking
p340 | doi:10.1038/nrm2169
Protein translocation: A tale of topology
p340 | doi:10.1038/nrm2170
Ageing: Similar signs
p341 | doi:10.1038/nrm2171
Cytoskeleton: Reshaping membranes
p342 | doi:10.1038/nrm2166
Plant cell biology: Shedding light on auxin action
p342 | doi:10.1038/nrm2167
Webwatch
The highway from genome to proteome
p342 | doi:10.1038/nrm2174
P53: Heads or tails? You lose!
p344 | doi:10.1038/nrm2168
Reviews
Article series: Stem cells
Stem-cell niches: nursery rhymes across kingdoms
Ben Scheres
p345 | doi:10.1038/nrm2164
Intriguing parallels in the organization of stem-cell niches have been revealed between plants and animals. Recent evidence indicates that stem cells in multicellular organisms can be specified by kingdom-specific patterning mechanisms that connect to a related core of epigenetic stem-cell factors.
The emerging shape of the ESCRT machinery
Roger L. Williams & Sylvie Urbé
p355 | doi:10.1038/nrm2162
The endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) machinery facilitates the sorting of proteins that are destined for lysosomal degradation into multivesicular bodies. Recent structural and functional studies provide new insights into the regulation of this machinery and the biogenesis of multivesicular bodies.
Metaplasia and transdifferentiation: from pure biology to the clinic
Jonathan M. W. Slack
p369 | doi:10.1038/nrm2146
Transformations from one tissue type to another are an established set of phenomena that can be explained by the principles of developmental biology. So, can we deliberately reprogramme cells from one tissue type to another to generate new therapies for human diseases?
The spindle-assembly checkpoint in space and time
Andrea Musacchio & Edward D. Salmon
p379 | doi:10.1038/nrm2163
The spindle-assembly checkpoint is a safety device that monitors the attachment of spindle microtubules to kinetochores and ensures the fidelity of chromosome segregation in mitosis. Molecular studies are finally starting to reveal the mechanisms of checkpoint activation and inactivation.
Article series: Mechanisms of disease
Werner and Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndromes: mechanistic basis of human progeroid diseases
Brian A. Kudlow, Brian K. Kennedy & Raymond J. Monnat, Jr
p394 | doi:10.1038/nrm2161
Recent data on the genetic and molecular basis of progeroid syndromes have shed light onto the nuclear metabolic defects that might accelerate ageing. What are the mechanistic features of progeroid syndromes? And how can these findings help us understand normal ageing?
The apoptosome: signalling platform of cell death
Stefan J. Riedl & Guy S. Salvesen
p405 | doi:10.1038/nrm2153
The apoptosome is a cytosolic signalling platform that integrates intracellular death signals. The formation of the apoptosome and the activation of its effector, caspase-9, reveal a sophisticated mechanism that might be more common than was initially thought.
Perspective
Opinion
Highway to the inner nuclear membrane: rules for the road
C. Patrick Lusk, Günter Blobel & Megan C. King
p414 | doi:10.1038/nrm2165
Transport of soluble proteins into the nucleus depends either on binding a protein-transport complex or on being small enough to diffuse in. Recent studies indicate that the delivery of integral membrane proteins into the inner nuclear membrane is governed by the same rules.
