Cell biology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cellular contractility is regulated by the GTPase RhoA, but how local signals are translated to a cell-level response is not known. Here the authors show that targeted RhoA activation results in propagation of force along stress fibres and actin flow, and identify zyxin as a regulator of stress fibre mechanics and homeostasis.

    • Patrick W. Oakes
    • , Elizabeth Wagner
    •  & Margaret L. Gardel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spindle assembly checkpoint ensures correct chromosome segregation and relies on kinetochore localization of the Bub1 and Mad1/Mad2 checkpoint proteins. Here the authors show that main function of Bub1 is to position Mad1 close to KNL1 MELT repeats in human cells.

    • Gang Zhang
    • , Thomas Kruse
    •  & Jakob Nilsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    mTORC1 regulates beta cell survival, function and adaptation to physiologic and pathological stimuli. Here Niet al. demonstrate that that deficiency of Raptor, a component of mTORC1 complex, impairs insulin secretion and glucose tolerance in mice by affecting maturation of beta cells during the postnatal period.

    • Qicheng Ni
    • , Yanyun Gu
    •  & Qidi Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    PIN1 is a promising therapeutic target for cancer treatment. In this study, the authors identify a covalent inhibitor of PIN1 with anti-tumour and anti-metastatic properties thanks to PIN1 inactivation and to the release, after binding to PIN1, of a quinone-mimicking compound that elicits reactive oxygen generation and causes DNA damage.

    • Elena Campaner
    • , Alessandra Rustighi
    •  & Giannino Del Sal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    ASXL2 mutations are mostly found in a subset of leukemia patients with certain genetic aberrations; however the role of this protein in normal hematopoiesis and related malignancies is still unclear. Here the authors use a knock-out mouse model to uncover the role of Asxl2in hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis.

    • Jianping Li
    • , Fuhong He
    •  & Feng-Chun Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Caveolae and their major constituent Caveolin-1 (CAV1) play an important role in signalling pathways involved in inflammation, but regulators of CAV1 protein stability are unknown. Here, the authors show that E3 ubiquitin ligase ZNRF1 induces degradation of CAV1 in response to TLR4 activation, and mediates the pro-inflammatory response bothin vitro and in vivo.

    • Chih-Yuan Lee
    • , Ting-Yu Lai
    •  & Li-Chung Hsu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Innate lymphoid cells (ILC) are thought to direct immune responses, but little is known about the development and maintenance of ILC subsets. Here the authors show that WASH maintains the pool of NKp46+ ILC3s by recruiting Arid1a to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor promoter and inducing its expression.

    • Pengyan Xia
    • , Jing Liu
    •  & Zusen Fan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Membrane-bound mVEGFR1 is a decoy VEGF-A receptor that regulates VEGF-A signalling amplitude. Boucheret al. show that Rab27a-regulated palmitoylation of mVEGFR1 redirects the receptor from a stable, constitutively recycling mode to a degradative route that removes ligands from the system.

    • Joshua M. Boucher
    • , Ryan P. Clark
    •  & Victoria L. Bautch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Protein MreB participates in elongation of sidewalls during growth of most rod-shaped bacteria. Here, the authors use fluorescence microscopy and single-particle tracking to visualize MreB, showing thatBacillus subtilis and Escherichia coliappear to use different strategies to adapt to growth rate variations.

    • Cyrille Billaudeau
    • , Arnaud Chastanet
    •  & Rut Carballido-López

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dysfunction of autophagy in plaque macrophages aggravates atherosclerosis. Here the authors show that induction of macrophage autophagy–lysosomal biogenesis either genetically by overexpression of the master transcriptional regulator of this process, TFEB, or pharmacologically with trehalose is atheroprotective.

    • Ismail Sergin
    • , Trent D. Evans
    •  & Babak Razani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Asymmetric segregation of cell fate determinants during cell division governs daughter cell fate. Here the authors show that Sara endosomes, known to regulate Notch signalling, are targeted to the mitotic spindle and once phosphorylated are asymmetrically dispatched into a daughter cell to determine cell fate.

    • Sylvain Loubéry
    • , Alicia Daeden
    •  & Marcos Gonzalez-Gaitan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Stress granules (SG) comprise aggregates of cellular messenger ribonucleoproteins (mRNPs) but how they form is unclear. Here, the authors identify NEDD4, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, as regulating the RNA binding protein NANOS2 and turnover of mRNP components, and so SG disassembly in spermatogonial stem cells.

    • Zhi Zhou
    • , Hiroshi Kawabe
    •  & Yumiko Saga

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mutations inCHCHD10 have been recently associated with frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Here the authors study the functions of endogenous CHCHD10 in Caenorhabditis elegans, primary neurons, and mouse, and show that it normally protects mitochondria and synaptic integrity, and retains TDP-43 in the nucleus.

    • Jung-A. A. Woo
    • , Tian Liu
    •  & David E. Kang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although senescent cell secretome can promote the growth of surrounding cancer cells, the role of extracellular vesicles in this process has not been well understood. Here the authors show that ROS increase the sorting of EphA2 into extracellular vesicles in senescent cells, which promotes proliferation of cancer cells.

    • Masaki Takasugi
    • , Ryo Okada
    •  & Eiji Hara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cellular cargo transported along actin filaments is faced with a directional choice at an intersection. Here the authors show that myosin Va-bound cargo prefers to go straight through the intersection, and propose a model to explain this by a tug-of-war between motors on the lipid cargo that engage the actin tracks.

    • Andrew T. Lombardo
    • , Shane R. Nelson
    •  & David M. Warshaw

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neisseria meningitidis bacteria bind to host proteins CD147 and β2-adrenergic receptor on the surface of endothelial cells. Here, Maïssa et al. show that the two proteins interact with each other forming clusters that increase the binding strength of the bacteria to endothelial cells.

    • Nawal Maïssa
    • , Valentina Covarelli
    •  & Sandrine Bourdoulous

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A major cause of transplanted organ failure is graft arteriosclerosis. Qiuet al. show that a key protease of post-translational SUMO modification, SENP1, is crucial for graft arteriosclerosis by regulating the activity of GATA2 transcription factor in the endothelium, and promoting endothelial inflammation and alloimmunity.

    • Cong Qiu
    • , Yuewen Wang
    •  & Luyang Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    RAP80 helps to recruit BRCA1 to double-strand breaks, facilitating DNA damage responses. Here the authors report that phosphorylated USP13 deubiquitinates RAP80 after DNA damage, prompting recruitment to the break site.

    • Yunhui Li
    • , Kuntian Luo
    •  & Jian Yuan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Precise chromosome segregation during mitosis requires coordination of stable chromosome bi-orientation with anaphase onset, however the underlying mechanism is not clear. Here the authors show that inner centromere localization of the chromosomal passenger complex maintains centromeric cohesion on bi-oriented chromosomes and allows mitotic checkpoint silencing.

    • Rutger C. C. Hengeveld
    • , Martijn J. M. Vromans
    •  & Susanne M. A. Lens

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During autophagy, AMPK and mTOR associate with ULK1 and regulate phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PtdIns3P) production that mediates autophagosome formation via WIPI proteins. Here the authors show WIPI3 and WIPI4 have a scaffolding function upstream of PtdIns3P production and have a role in the PtdIns3P effector function of WIPI1-WIPI2 at nascent autophagosomes.

    • Daniela Bakula
    • , Amelie J. Müller
    •  & Tassula Proikas-Cezanne

  • Article
    | Open Access

    BIG3 is highly expressed in breast cancers and its interaction with PHB2 results in constitutive activation of E2/ERa signalling. Here the authors unveil the mechanistic details of this regulation showing that BIG3 binds PKA and regulates PP1Ca activity in an oestrogen-dependent manner.

    • Tetsuro Yoshimaru
    • , Masaya Ono
    •  & Toyomasa Katagiri

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Glucose is an important nutrient that feeds into glycolytic control of T cell function and differentiation. Here the authors show that T cells are superior to dendritic cells (DC) at glucose uptake, and by depriving DCs of this nutrient in their microenvironment T cells activate DC proinflammatory functions, which in turn enhance T cell effector functions in DC-T cell cocultures.

    • Simon J. Lawless
    • , Nidhi Kedia-Mehta
    •  & David K. Finlay

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The binding of the leukocyte integrin Mac1 to the platelet receptor GPIbα is important for the physiological response to tissue injury. Here the authors show that this interaction also regulates thrombosis, without influencing bleeding time, which may provide clues for the development of new anti-thrombotic drugs.

    • Yunmei Wang
    • , Huiyun Gao
    •  & Daniel I. Simon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tumor cell proliferation and migration, key drivers of metastasis, can be mechanistically coupled in matrix embedded human sarcoma and carcinoma cells through cell density via a synergistic, paracrine signaling mechanism between Interleukins 6/8. Inhibition of this mechanism significantly decreases metastasis in mouse xenograft models.

    • Hasini Jayatilaka
    • , Pranay Tyle
    •  & Denis Wirtz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The human congenital disorder Noonan Syndrome (NS) is caused by germ-line mutations that hyperactivate the RAS/ERK signalling pathway, and can feature pathologic cardiac enlargement. Here, the authors find that a complex cellular and molecular interplay involving a cytokine hierarchy underlies cardiac hypertrophy caused by a NS-associatedRafallele.

    • Jiani C. Yin
    • , Mathew J. Platt
    •  & Benjamin G. Neel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mutations in the granulin gene are associated with frontotemporal lobe dementia (FTLD) and a lysosomal storage disease. The authors show that reduced progranulin levels leads to impaired neuronal uptake and lysosomal delivery of prosaposin, and that decreased prosaposin expression in mice leads to FTLD-like behaviour.

    • Xiaolai Zhou
    • , Lirong Sun
    •  & Fenghua Hu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Arginine methylation is an abundant post-translational modification catalysed by protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs). Here the authors use quantitative mass spectrometry to globally profile the substrates of the PRMT CARM1 in breast cancer cells, and establish a role for CARM1’s N-terminus in substrate recognition.

    • Evgenia Shishkova
    • , Hao Zeng
    •  & Wei Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    PrimPol is a multifunctional replicative enzyme that can bypass DNA damage, as well as reprime replication restart. Here, the authors have elucidated how PrimPol is recruited to stalled replication forks via specific interactions with RPA, which stimulates its primase activity.

    • Thomas A. Guilliam
    • , Nigel C. Brissett
    •  & Aidan J. Doherty

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cell migration is sensitive to environmental stiffness, but how cells sense optimal stiffness is not known. Here the authors develop a model that predicts that the optimum can be shifted by altering the number of active molecular motors and clutches, and verify their model in two cell types.

    • Benjamin L. Bangasser
    • , Ghaidan A. Shamsan
    •  & David J. Odde

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mitochondrial uniporter MICU1 regulates mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake. Here, the authors show that MICU1 is upregulated in ovarian cancer and confers resistance to cisplatin-induced apoptosis through a Ca2+-mediated regulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase activity that results in increased glycolysis.

    • Prabir K. Chakraborty
    • , Soumyajit Banerjee Mustafi
    •  & Priyabrata Mukherjee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Establishment of the outer blood-retina barrier is a hallmark of retinal development but the contribution of choroid endothelial cells (ECs) is not known. Here the authors show in the developing mouse retina that ECs remodel the basement membrane and lead to enhanced barrier function of retinal epithelial cells.

    • Ignacio Benedicto
    • , Guillermo L. Lehmann
    •  & Enrique Rodriguez-Boulan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polarized epithelial cells must correctly position a wide range of subcellular structures. Here the authors demonstrate an apicobasal gradient of Rac GTPase activity, which is maintained by polarity proteins inDrosophilaepithelial sheets, and is required to maintain actin-dependent protrusion form and position.

    • Africa Couto
    • , Natalie Ann Mack
    •  & Marios Georgiou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nonreceptor guanine-nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) are emerging as important regulators of heterotrimeric G proteins. Here, the authors present structural and mechanistic insights into how a class of nonreceptor GEFs containing the Ga-Binding and Activating motif interact and modulate G proteins.

    • Alain Ibáñez de Opakua
    • , Kshitij Parag-Sharma
    •  & Mikel Garcia-Marcos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Targeting the specific metabolic phenotypes of colorectal cancer stem cells (CRCSCs) is a potential therapeutic strategy for colorectal cancer (CRC). Here, the authors show that adenylate kinase hCINAP is overexpressed in CRC, binds to the C-terminal domain of LDHA and its depletion inhibits invasion, self-renewal, tumorigenesis and chemoresistance of CRCSCs.

    • Yapeng Ji
    • , Chuanzhen Yang
    •  & Xiaofeng Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Foetal microchimeric cells (FMCs) are found in maternal circulation during pregnancy and migrate to injury sites, where they mediate repair, but how this is regulated is unclear. Here, the authors show in mice that the chemokine Ccl2 enhances delayed maternal wound healing through a subpopulation of Ccr2+ FMCs.

    • Mathieu Castela
    • , Dany Nassar
    •  & Selim Aractingi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The role of exosomes in intercellular communication is well established, however less in known about the biological roles of exosome secretion in exosome-secreting cells. Here the authors show that exosome secretion controls cellular homeostasis in exosome-secreting cells by removing harmful cytoplasmic DNA from cells.

    • Akiko Takahashi
    • , Ryo Okada
    •  & Eiji Hara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The transcriptional co-activator YAP is known to operate downstream of mechanical signals arising from the cell niche. Here the authors demonstrate that YAP controls cell mechanics, force development and adhesion strength by promoting the transcription of genes related to focal adhesions.

    • Giorgia Nardone
    • , Jorge Oliver-De La Cruz
    •  & Giancarlo Forte

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