Table of contents
From the editors
p495 | doi:10.1038/nrm2444
Research Highlights
Small RNAs: United in silence | PDF (173 KB)
p496 | doi:10.1038/nrm2429
Web Watch
Science sans frontiers | PDF (89 KB)
p497 | doi:10.1038/nrm2437
Protein folding: Chaperone embrace | PDF (177 KB)
p497 | doi:10.1038/nrm2441
Protein degradation: Catching ubiquitin | PDF (151 KB)
p498 | doi:10.1038/nrm2431
Cell signalling: How to lead a double life | PDF (236 KB)
p498 | doi:10.1038/nrm2436
Mechanisms of disease: A structural unwinding | PDF (161 KB)
p499 | doi:10.1038/nrm2442
Cell morphology: Breaking the spatial code | PDF (175 KB)
p500 | doi:10.1038/nrm2433
Reverse transcription: Do the flip | PDF (119 KB)
p501 | doi:10.1038/nrm2432
In brief
Cytoskeleton | Stem cells | Chromatin | PDF (93 KB)
p501 | doi:10.1038/nrm2440
An Interview With...
Harold Varmus | PDF (265 KB)
p502 | doi:10.1038/nrm2435
Reviews
Article series: Stem cells
Mediators of reprogramming: transcription factors and transitions through mitosis
Dieter Egli, Garrett Birkhoff & Kevin Eggan
p505 | doi:10.1038/nrm2439
Animal cloning demonstrates that the genome of a differentiated cell can be reprogrammed to support the development of an entire organism and allow the derivation of pluripotent stem cells. Is there a common mechanism for programming and reprogramming developmental states? And what factors are required?
Ras oncogenes: split personalities
Antoine E. Karnoub & Robert A. Weinberg
p517 | doi:10.1038/nrm2438
Extensive research over the past 30 years has revealed the involvement of Ras not only in tumorigenesis but also in many developmental disorders. The complexity of the molecular and cell biological mechanisms of action of Ras proteins indicates that much remains to be learnt.
Cytochrome c: functions beyond respiration
Yong-Ling P. Ow, Douglas R. Green, Zhenyue Hao & Tak W. Mak
p532 | doi:10.1038/nrm2434
Cytochrome c is primarily known for its function in the mitochondria as a key participant in the life-supporting function of ATP synthesis. Yet, cytochrome c also has a prominent role in apoptotic pathways and participates in non-apoptotic processes during development.
Mechanisms of membrane fusion: disparate players and common principles
Sascha Martens & Harvey T. McMahon
p543 | doi:10.1038/nrm2417
Although fusion proteins that function in different membrane-fusion events can be structurally diverse, their functional activities are often similar. Fusion proteins bring the two membranes into sufficiently close proximity and inject energy into the fusion process.
A gene regulatory network orchestrates neural crest formation
Tatjana Sauka-Spengler & Marianne Bronner-Fraser
p557 | doi:10.1038/nrm2428
The neural crest is a migratory population of cells that is unique to vertebrate embryos and that forms numerous derivatives, such as melanocytes, peripheral neurons and glia, and the craniofacial skeleton. Formation of the neural crest is mediated through a multimodule gene regulatory network.
Perspectives
Opinion
Extra-chromosomal elements and the evolution of cellular DNA replication machineries
Adam T. McGeoch & Stephen D. Bell
p569 | doi:10.1038/nrm2426
Although DNA replication is fundamental to the propagation of cellular life, the bacterial replication machinery is distinct from that used by archaea and eukaryotes. What has been the role of lateral gene transfer by extra-chromosomal elements in shaping the replication machinery during evolution?
Opinion
Endosomal sorting and signalling: an emerging role for sorting nexins
Peter J. Cullen
p574 | doi:10.1038/nrm2427
Sorting nexins are associated with the early endosomal network and have important functions in endocytosis, sorting and signalling. But how do specific sorting nexins regulate tubular-based endosomal sorting and how do other sorting nexins coordinate sorting with endosomal signalling events?
