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Volume 18 Issue 5, May 2017

'Shedding light on phase separation' by Vicky Summersby, inspired by the Review on p285.

Research Highlight

  • Two studies report new methods for studying the 3D genome — one captures three-way contacts and the other calculates 3D structures of genomes in single cells.

    • Katharine H. Wrighton
    Research Highlight

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  • In mouse muscle cells, an isoform of EZH1 — a subunit of Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) — sequesters another subunit in the cytosol, thereby inhibiting PRC2 function.

    • Eytan Zlotorynski
    Research Highlight
  • Cold stress activatesArabidopsis thalianaplasma membrane-localized CRPK1, which leads to 14-3-3 proteins entering the nucleus and promoting the degradation of CBF transcription factors, thus attenuating the cold-induced response.

    • Kim Baumann
    Research Highlight
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In Brief

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Journal Club

  • Kai Simons discusses how MDCK cells grown on semi-permeable filters have become a model for studying apico-basal cell polarity with the use of viruses.

    • Kai Simons
    Journal Club
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Research Highlight

  • Mechanical tension is shown to contribute to the establishment of the cell polarity axis in plant epidermal stem cells, which is important for regulating asymmetric cell division.

    • Paulina Strzyz
    Research Highlight
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Progress

  • 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
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Review Article

  • In addition to membrane-bound organelles, eukaryotic cells feature various membraneless compartments, including the centrosome, the nucleolus and various granules. Many of these compartments form through liquid–liquid phase separation, and the principles, mechanisms and regulation of their assembly as well as their cellular functions are now beginning to emerge.

    • Salman F. Banani
    • Hyun O. Lee
    • Michael K. Rosen

    Collection:

    Review Article
  • Core histone proteins are deposited on chromatin during DNA replication, whereas their replication-independent variants are deposited throughout the cell cycle by specific chaperones and chromatin remodellers. This dynamic deposition of histone variants has important roles in cell fate specification and has been implicated in development and tumorigenesis.

    • Marcus Buschbeck
    • Sandra B. Hake
    Review Article
  • Structure-specific endonucleases (SSEs) function in concert with other DNA-remodelling enzymes and cell cycle control machineries in processes such as DNA adduct repair, Holliday junction processing and the response to replication stress. As SSEs have specificity for DNA structures rather than sequence, tight regulation of their activity is important to ensure genome stability.

    • Pierre-Marie Dehé
    • Pierre-Henri L. Gaillard
    Review Article
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Opinion

  • Although non-coding RNAs have roles in transcription and chromatin function, nascent pre-mRNA is usually considered to be passive during these processes. Recently identified interactions between nascent pre-mRNAs and regulatory proteins suggest that both types of RNA regulate transcription and chromatin function.

    • Lenka Skalska
    • Manuel Beltran-Nebot
    • Richard G. Jenner
    Opinion
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