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  • DNA G-quadruplexes (G4s) are guanine-rich sequences that fold into four-stranded structures. Recent progress in the detection and mapping of genomic G4 structures has provided new insights into their functions in regulating transcription and genome stability, and has revealed their potential relevance for cancer therapy.

    • Robert Hänsel-Hertsch
    • Marco Di Antonio
    • Shankar Balasubramanian
    Progress
  • Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are produced from precursor RNA back-splicing. Recent findings reveal the complexity of the biogenesis of circRNAs and their cell type-specific expression. They also show that circRNAs can shape eukaryotic transcriptomes by sequestering microRNAs and by regulating transcription and interfering with splicing.

    • Ling-Ling Chen
    Progress
  • Recent studies have changed our understanding of the prevalence and biological significance of DNAN6-adenine methylation (6mA) in eukaryotes. This modification is involved in regulating transcription, transposable elements and epigenetic inheritance, and thus can be considered to be a eukaryotic epigenetic mark.

    • Guan-Zheng Luo
    • Mario Andres Blanco
    • Yang Shi
    Progress
  • Recent findings have demonstrated that Polycomb repressive complexes (PRCs) control gene expression through their co-recruitment to specific CpG island elements with transcription factors and non-coding RNAs. Moreover, they revealed that the interplay between PRC1 and PRC2 to achieve transcriptional repression is more intricate than was previously thought.

    • Neil P. Blackledge
    • Nathan R. Rose
    • Robert J. Klose
    Progress
  • Recent findings revealed the extent to which mitochondrial translation and other cellular processes are mutually controlled. Mitochondrial translation is coordinated with the assembly of respiratory chain complexes and is positively regulated by microRNAs imported from the cytoplasm. In turn, mitochondrial translation stress activates retrograde signalling pathways that suppress cell proliferation.

    • Ricarda Richter-Dennerlein
    • Sven Dennerlein
    • Peter Rehling
    Progress
  • Pseudouridine is the most abundant internal post-transcriptional modification of spliceosomal small nuclear RNAs and ribosomal RNAs. Transcriptome-wide maps of RNA pseudouridylation have recently established that pseudouridines are also found in mRNAs, potentially representing a new mechanism of proteomic diversification.

    • John Karijolich
    • Chengqi Yi
    • Yi-Tao Yu
    Progress
  • Recent findings revealed that DNA–protein crosslinks (DPCs) in yeast and Xenopus laevis are repaired by a dedicated, protease-based DNA-repair pathway. Mutations in the putative human homologue of a DPC protease result in premature ageing and cancer predisposition.

    • Julian Stingele
    • Stefan Jentsch
    Progress
  • Recent data suggest that histone modifications have a direct effect on nucleosomal architecture. Acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation and citrullination of the histone core may influence chromatin structure by affecting histone–histone and histone–DNA interactions, as well as the binding of histones to chaperones.

    • Peter Tessarz
    • Tony Kouzarides
    Progress
  • Linear ubiquitylation was initially identified owing to its function in canonical nuclear factor-κB activation. Recent studies have revealed the involvement of linear ubiquitin chains in the regulation of other signalling pathways and cell death, and in several diseases including cancer, which highlights the unexpected importance of this form of ubiquitylation.

    • Kazuhiro Iwai
    • Hiroaki Fujita
    • Yoshiteru Sasaki
    Progress
  • Our understanding of the downstream effectors and upstream regulators of target of rapamycin (TOR) signalling continues to grow. In particular, recent global 'omics' studies have revealed physiological roles of mammalian TOR (mTOR) in protein, nucleotide and lipid synthesis, and other studies showed that Hippo, WNT and Notch signalling are novel regulators of mTOR.

    • Mitsugu Shimobayashi
    • Michael N. Hall
    Progress
  • It was widely accepted that cytoplasmic actin operates as filaments and nuclear actin is mainly monomeric. Recent progress in the field, including the association of actin filament assembly proteins with nuclear functions and the first direct visualizations of polymerized nuclear actin, forces us to rethink this issue.

    • Robert Grosse
    • Maria K. Vartiainen
    Progress
  • The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a key component of the stem cell niche and is now emerging as more than just an inert scaffold. Indeed, new technologies have provided mechanistic insights into the effects of the ECM on stem cell fate choice.

    • Fiona M. Watt
    • Wilhelm T. S. Huck
    Progress
  • Amino acids are one of the key environmental stimuli signalling to mTOR. Although exactly how they are sensed and how they activate mTOR has remained elusive, a model has emerged that implicates signalling by RAG GTPases, Ragulator and v-ATPase at the lysosome and leucyl t-RNA synthetase in the cytoplasm.

    • Jenna L. Jewell
    • Ryan C. Russell
    • Kun-Liang Guan
    Progress
  • The super elongation complex (SEC) consists of the RNA polymerase II (Pol II) elongation factors eleven-nineteen Lys-rich leukaemia (ELL) proteins, positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) and several frequent mixed lineage leukaemia (MLL) translocation partners. The SEC controls transcription elongation in the presence or absence of promoter-proximal paused Pol II, and its gene target specificity depends on protein components forming distinct SEC complexes.

    • Zhuojuan Luo
    • Chengqi Lin
    • Ali Shilatifard
    Progress
  • Successful abscission — the final stage of cell division — involves the precise coordination of different events, culminating in the separation of two daughter cells. Endocytic and secretory vesicle trafficking, ESCRT-mediated scission and signalling through mitotic kinases have emerged as key players in this process.

    • Chun-Ting Chen
    • Heidi Hehnly
    • Stephen J. Doxsey
    Progress
  • TBC/RABGAPs are negative regulators of RABs that carry a conserved TBC domain. In addition to their roles in intracellular trafficking, they have recently emerged as integrators of signalling between RABs and other small GTPases, and they are frequently dysregulated in disease.

    • Marieke A. M. Frasa
    • Katja T. Koessmeier
    • Vania M. M. Braga
    Progress
  • The autophagosome, the central organelle in macroautophagy, is constructed from a membrane template called the phagophore, to which autophagy-related (ATG) proteins are hierarchically recruited. Recent findings suggest that non-canonical autophagy may also occur in the absence of these key autophagy proteins.

    • Patrice Codogno
    • Maryam Mehrpour
    • Tassula Proikas-Cezanne
    Progress