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Fertilization triggers a complex cellular programme that leads to a totipotent mitotic embryo. The molecular mechanisms underlying the meiosis to mitosis transition include changes in sister chromatid linkages, the reintroduction of a centrosome, a shift to symmetric cell division and changes in genomic imprinting and protein expression control.
Phospho-Ser/Thr-binding domains are crucial regulators of cell cycle progression and DNA damage signalling. Progress has been made in our understanding of the motif (or motifs) that these domains connect with on their target proteins and precisely how these interactions influence the cell cycle and DNA damage response.
Cell competition occurs when cells that grow at different rates confront each other. This results in the elimination of the slower growing cells by apoptosis. Although exactly how this occurs is unclear, mechanical factors might be involved, as cell crowding within an epithelium leads to delamination and extrusion.
A growing list of membrane trafficking regulators, particularly those affecting clathrin-mediated endocytosis, have independent functions in mitosis. This repurposing may have arisen from the functional flexibility of the membrane trafficking machinery.
The fast-growing economy and investment in science, including new funding opportunities and career development initiatives, have attracted foreign scholars to work in China and motivated world-class Chinese scientists to return. As a result, molecular and cell biology research in China has evolved rapidly over the past decade.
