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How is RNA Polymerase II (RNAP) regulated at poised loci in embryonic stem cells? Recent work provides new insights into Ring1-mediated transcriptional control of this important subset of developmental regulatory genes.
The control of cell size through the coordination of cell growth and division is a longstanding fundamental problem. A study in fission yeast shows that TOR controls entry into mitosis through the MAP kinase Sty1 and so provides a molecular mechanism for the control of cell size.
Most intracellular organelles are surrounded by a lipid bilayer and require specialized machinery for membrane fusion. Remarkably, lipid droplets, which contain a hydrophobic core and a monolayer of membrane lipids, can sequester distinct components of this fusion machinery and thereby downregulate certain types of exocytosis.
The mitotic spindle is the molecular machine that distributes the chromosomes to the two daughter cells. By developing techniques to look at the behaviour of individual microtubules within the spindle, new insights into the organization of this exquisite structure have been provided.
How do developing organs sense and limit their size? The recently discovered Hippo pathway might have a critical role in controlling organ size and homeostasis in many organisms from Drosophila to mammals.
Mitochondrial dysfunction is primarily responsible for neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease. The Parkinson's-disease-associated kinase PINK1 has been identified as an important regulator of the activity of the mitochondria-associated stress-protective protease HtrA2.
The transcription factor PPAR-γ determines whether mesenchymal stem cells differentiate into adipocytes or osteoblasts. The finding that non-canonical Wnt signalling represses PPAR-γ through assembly of a nuclear corepressor complex containing the histone methyltransferase SETDB1 provides the first insight into how extracellular signals can regulate chromatin modification.