Browse Articles

Toettcher, McNamara and colleagues use synthetic ‘signal-recording’ gene circuits on mouse gastruloids and find that cell sorting rearranges patchy domains of Wnt activity into a single pole, which defines the gastruloid anterior–posterior axis.

Narendra and Youle review the current understanding of the role of PINK1–Parkin in the quality control of mitophagy, highlighting the underlying mechanisms and physiological relevance of the pathway, as well as its role in neuroprotection.

The assembly of germ granules remains unknown, but recent attention to the role of RNA structure in membrane-less organelle assembly is changing our understanding of RNAs in the cell. Two studies now show how RNA–RNA interactions drive germ granule assembly and how germ granules spatially regulate embryonic mRNA translation.

Bose, Rankovic et al. show that a specific RNA–RNA kissing-loop interaction plays a crucial role in driving biomolecular condensation of ribonucleoprotein granules in the Drosophila germline.

Zhao et al. report that the Z compartment protein HERD-1 regulates transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in Caenorhabditis elegans at least in part by preventing the mixing of germ granule condensates.

Circulating tumour cells from primary carcinomas may reach the brain and establish metastases. In the brain parenchyma, tumour cells initiate extensive interactions with resident astrocytes, microglia and neurons, forming a niche where tumour cells can thrive. A new study reveals a previously unknown type of astrocyte–tumour cell interaction.

During early mouse development, a fluid-filled lumen inflates the embryo. Membrane protrusions called inverse blebs have been found to form at cell–cell contacts. Cycles of inverse bleb filling and unloading act as hydraulic pumps and contribute to the formation of the lumen.

Yuzhalin et al. report that astrocyte-mediated upregulation of Cdk5 in metastatic breast cancer cells inhibits MHC-I expression on the cell surface, thereby enabling escape from killing by CD8⁺ T cells and facilitating brain metastasis.

Al-Refaie et al. show that fasting induces spatial reorganization of chromatin and formation of chromatin rings in an mTORC1- and RNA Pol I-dependent manner in the C. elegans intestine.

Xu, Liang, Li, Dang et al. delineate the clathrin-associated fast endosomal recycling pathway, which involves clathrin-associated carriers derived from early endosomes partially fusing with the plasma membrane before release from the membrane.

Yang et al. show that plasma membrane curvature promotes the site-specific formation of contacts with the endoplasmic reticulum through junctophilin-2 tethers in cardiomyocytes.

This issue presents a Focus of specially commissioned articles that discuss cell death in its multiple forms, implications for homeostatic physiology and disease and outstanding questions in this expanding field.

Hao, Shen and colleagues identify and characterize two distinct types of myeloid–B cell interaction that may signal solid tumour-induced immunosuppression and can correlate with complete responses to immunotherapy in patients with breast cancer.

Combining degron-based depletion with live-cell transcription imaging and single-particle tracking, Szczurek et al. show that Polycomb keeps promoters in an OFF state by restricting the formation of the pre-initiation complex.

Zhang, Liu and colleagues identify and characterize cell death in rapidly proliferating CD8⁺ T cells resulting from excessive ammonia accumulation and subsequent lysosomal dysfunction and mitochondrial damage.