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In tumours, cancer cells can overcome energy stress via differential regulation of non-canonical ‘moonlighting’ functions of metabolic enzymes. A study now shows that the metabolic phosphatase fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase 1 (FBP1) can act as a nuclear protein phosphatase and reveals how this process is inhibited in cancer cells.
For the past 40 years, minimal reconstituted systems have helped cell biologists to understand the mechanisms that underlie membrane traffic. Having progressed from minimal synthetic and cell-derived ensembles to direct comparison with living systems, reconstitution is poised for ever more precise and informative understanding of membrane biology.
Wang and colleagues identify a protein phosphatase role for the metabolic enzyme fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase 1 that, upon phosphorylation by PERK, dephosphorylates histone H3 and modulates PPARα-mediated gene expression to inhibit liver cancer progression.
Zhang et al. report that the long noncoding RNA KCNQ1OT1 binds to double-stranded genomic DNA and to the heterochromatin protein HP1α to induce and maintain epigenetic silencing at repetitive DNA elements and guard against genomic instability and senescence.
We highlight the expanding world of noncoding RNA biology in a Collection of articles from Nature research journals that discuss recent technological advances, approaches and emerging models driving this rapidly advancing field.
Tanaka et al. generate human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived salivary gland organoids that serve as a model for salivary gland development and SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Kao et al. discuss the metabolic crosstalk between cancer cells and immune cells and how this impacts immune surveillance and anti-tumour immune responses.
Ganuza et al. report that foetal liver haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are largely biased to differentiation rather than self-renewal, resulting in a modest expansion of the HSC pool with contribution to adult haematopoiesis.
Liu and Dekker test the importance of cohesin ring integrity for genome architecture: cohesin ring opening via Rad21 cleavage causes loss of CTCF–CTCF loops but maintains dynamic intra-domain loops, suggesting distinct cohesin engagement modes.
Banerjee et al. detail the spatial and temporal dynamics of the surface charge on the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane and show that these dynamics are necessary and sufficient to regulate signalling pathways mediating cell migration and polarity.
Specialized activities of ribosomal components that regulate the expression of specific genes is an emerging field of research. A new study identifies alternative splicing of a ribosomal protein between the peripheral and core regions of glioblastoma tumours to produce isoforms with distinct functions.
Larionova et al. identify a mechanism by which acidification of the tumour microenvironment within the glioblastoma core induces the generation of an alternative splice isoform of ribosomal protein RPL22L1, which regulates cell stemness and increases tumour heterogeneity.
Cellular senescence induced by DNA replication and telomere attrition contributes to organ dysfunction, inflammation and impaired immunity. A study reveals that antigen-presenting cells provide telomeric DNA to CD4+ T cells in synaptic contact, which enables the suspension of senescence, T cell expansion and long-lived immunity.
Wesley et al. describe the developmental trajectories of human foetal liver cell types at single-cell resolution and generate bipotential hepatoblast organoids, which can serve as a new platform to investigate human liver development.