News & Comment

A recent study visualizes how enhancer–transcriptional condensate–gene interactions augment gene expression.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Khalid Ibrahim (Radenovic and Lashuel labs) describes a tool for the artificial intelligence (AI)-driven detection of cellular aggregates that bypasses the need for fluorescent labelling.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Lei Yuan (from the Cai lab) highlights a new culture system that allows in vitro reconstitution of a dynamic miniature mammary gland.

Rapid reactivation of gene expression following mitosis-induced silencing is facilitated by a network of redundantly acting nuclear receptors that function as mitotic bookmarks.

Farmer et al. show that mRNAs encoding abscission proteins are targeted to the midbody during cell division and are locally translated to enable cytokinesis.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Yohan Lee (Stachowiak lab) describes a method to generate free-standing planar lipid membranes for the study of membrane-associated protein phase separation.

Cell quiescence dampens mTOR signalling and enables AGO2 localization to the nucleus, where it suppresses retrotransposons by directly cleaving their RNA.

In this Comment, Hub Zwart discusses the importance of embedding philosophical reflection into research aiming at creating a synthetic cell.

Florian Heyd describes a paper that pointed towards alternative splicing as a driver of human cognitive abilities.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Manuela Richter (Dumont lab) describes a method to probe mechanisms of cytoskeletal network re-organization that uses a targeted laser to both trigger network remodelling and track network dynamics.

Emily Wong describes a study that provided a quantitative methodology for analyzing ChIP experiments and shifted our understanding of the functionality of transcription factors.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Bohan Zhang (Gladyshev lab) discusses how the use of extended heterochronic parabiosis in mice (surgical connection between circulatory systems for an extended period), followed by detachment, can shed light on potential mechanisms that reverse mammalian ageing.

Yu et al. identify senescent cells as important players in the regeneration of complex structures.

Phosphorylation of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) maintenance factor TFAM during spermatogenesis prevents its import into mitochondria, resulting in elimination of paternal mtDNA and leading to maternal inheritance.

Ernst and Renne highlight two papers, one that discovered and another that structurally defined the ER–mitochondria encounter structure (ERMES) that facilitates the exchange of lipids between the ER and mitochondria.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Christine Lim and Alicia González Díaz (Vendruscolo lab) describe a pipeline for the identification and characterization of proteins whose phase separation is altered in disease.

mTOR inhibition by deprivation of the amino acids Tyr, Trp and Phe promotes the translocation of the 26S proteasome from the nucleus to the cytosol, which is required for stress tolerance and cell survival.

Sarkar et al. identify a feedback loop between the methyltransferase SETDB1 and nuclear pore complexes that ensures silencing of early-oogenesis genes as oocyte specification progresses.

Congratulations to John Jumper and Demis Hassabis for winning the 2023 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Sarah Paramore (from the Devenport and Nelson labs) discusses the use of mouse strains carrying genomic alterations in PCP genes and how they can increase our understanding of mammalian planar cell polarity.