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Barrier-to-autointegration factor (BAF) forms a layer on the surface of chromatin at late mitosis, guiding the reformation of a single nuclear envelope surrounding all chromosomes.
Daniel Gerlich discusses how a study by the Hyman laboratory introduced the theory of liquid phase separation to cell biology and its implications for the understanding of cell organization and function.
The skin is able to counteract tissue aberrancies resulting from tissue overgrowth and to restore normal tissue architecture by eliminating aberrant cells.
The 2017 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award was awarded to Michael N. Hall (Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland) “for discoveries concerning the nutrient-activated TOR proteins and their central role in the metabolic control of cell growth”.
The majority of common diseases are associated with ageing. Diseases that cause premature ageing serve as natural model systems for studying the mechanisms of ageing and disease, as they share similar cellular and molecular hallmarks, including genomic instability, metabolic defects and loss of regenerative capacity.
Recent insights into the roles of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) in mediating various DNA repair pathways, stabilizing DNA replication and modulating chromatin structure are being exploited clinically for the treatment of DNA repair-deficient cancers.
Replication stress is controlled by the kinase ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related (ATR), which senses and resolves threats to DNA integrity. ATR activation is complex and involves a core set of components that recruit ATR to stressed replication forks, stimulate its kinase activity and amplify downstream signalling to maintain the stability of replication forks.
Pre-mRNA splicing occurs on nascent RNA, which is attached to chromatin by RNA polymerase II. Much splicing occurs co-transcriptionally, and the spatial and temporal coordination of the two processes is tightly coordinated with other mRNA-processing events.
