Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 916 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2419-c3

Author: Mark S. Bretscher

Robert Kay and colleagues (Changing directions in the study of chemotaxis. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 9, 455–463 (2008)) cite the popular view that actin polymerization drives the forward protrusion of moving cells and suggests that “membrane flow has received little

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 846 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2521

Authors: Sandra Iden & John G. Collard

Cell polarization is crucial for the development of multicellular organisms, and aberrant cell polarization contributes to various diseases, including cancer. How cell polarity is established and how it is maintained remain fascinating questions. Conserved proteins of the partitioning defective (PAR), Scribble and Crumbs complexes guide

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 860 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2522

Authors: Rong Li & Gregg G. Gundersen

Cell polarity relies on the asymmetric organization of cellular components and structures. Actin and microtubules are well suited to provide the structural basis for cell polarization because of their inherent structural polarity along the polymer lattices and intrinsic dynamics that allow them to respond rapidly

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 887 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2523

Authors: David M. Bryant & Keith E. Mostov

How do animal cells assemble into tissues and organs? A diverse array of tissue structures and shapes can be formed by organizing groups of cells into different polarized arrangements and by coordinating their polarity in space and time. Conserved design principles underlying this diversity are

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 874 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2524

Author: Michel Bornens

In spite of conspicuous differences in their polarized architecture, swimming unicellular eukaryotes and migrating cells from metazoa display a conserved hierarchical interlocking of the main cellular compartments, in which the microtubule network has a dominant role. A microtubule array can organize the distribution of endomembranes

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 833 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2525

Authors: Ira Mellman & W. James Nelson

The polarized distribution of functions in polarized cells requires the coordinated interaction of three machineries that modify the basic mechanisms of intracellular protein trafficking and distribution. First, intrinsic protein-sorting signals and cellular decoding machineries regulate protein trafficking to plasma membrane domains; second, intracellular signalling complexes

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 903 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2526

Authors: Valter D. Longo, Michael R. Lieber & Jan Vijg

Recent studies in diverse organisms implicate proto-oncogenic pathways, including insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), Ras and AKT/protein kinase B in the ageing process. Although IGF-I is thought to contribute to cancer by promoting growth and preventing apoptosis, evidence from model organisms suggests that proto-oncogene homologues might

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 830 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2536

Author: Errol C. Friedberg

Philip Leder was born in 1934 and received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, respectively, in Massachusetts, USA. He held research positions at the National Institutes of Health, Maryland, from the early 1960s until returning to Harvard University in

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 828 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2538

Author: Arianne Heinrichs

The Drosophila melanogaster Numb protein is uniformly distributed on the cortex and in the cytoplasm of neural precursor cells in interphase, but shows a polarized localization during mitosis. This results in the asymmetric segregation of Numb into one of the two daughter cells and

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 824 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2540

Author: Francesca Cesari

The release of calcium (Ca2+) from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is followed by the influx of Ca2+ across the plasma membrane through Ca2+-release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channels, which are crucial for sustained Ca2+ signalling in many

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 824 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2541

Author: Francesca Cesari

˙ http://kb.psi-structuralgenomics.orgWe have all experienced frustrating hours of searching for and collating information on the structure and function of a particular protein. Now, we can find all that information in one place, by navigating the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI)–Nature Structural Genomics Knowledgebase (SGKB).Hosted

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 825 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2542

Cell polarityActin-driven chromosomal motility leads to symmetry breaking in mammalian meiotic oocytes.Li, H.et al. Nature Cell Biol.5 Oct 2008 (doi: 10.1038/ncb1788)Oocyte meiotic divisions are highly asymmetric, and symmetry breaking initiates when chromosomes move from the oocyte

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 821 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2543

Cell polarity relies on the asymmetric organization of cellular components and functions. It is implicated in the differentiation, proliferation and morphogenesis of unicellular and multicellular organisms, and its dysregulation can cause developmental disorders and cancer.With this month's Focus on Cell Polarity, we assess how

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 910 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2510

Authors: Helfrid Hochegger, Shunichi Takeda & Tim Hunt

Cell-cycle transitions in higher eukaryotes are regulated by different cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and their activating cyclin subunits. Based on pioneering findings that a dominant-negative mutation of CDK1 blocks the cell cycle at G2–M phase, whereas dominant-negative CDK2 inhibits the transition into S phase, a model

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 827 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2532

Author: Ekat Kritikou

Kinesin-1 (referred to as kinesin) can transport molecular cargoes over long distances in a precise manner. It does this without dissociating from the microtubules by coordinating its two motor domains in a hand-over-hand manner — a property that is known as processivity. Reporting in Cell

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 826 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2533

Author: Francesca Cesari

Deregulation of lipid metabolism in individual tissues causes metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, fatty liver disease and atherosclerosis. How do alterations in tissue-specific lipid metabolism affect whole-body homeostasis? Now, Cao et al. show that palmitoleate is an adipose tissue-derived hormone that regulates systemic metabolic

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 823 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2534

Author: Arianne Heinrichs

During bacterial cell division, replicated chromosome origins are targeted to opposite cell poles. This is required for accurate chromosome segregation and cell division. But how chromosome origins are localized to and retained at cell poles is poorly understood. The groups of Shapiro and Jacobs-Wagner have

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 828 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2535

Author: Ekat Kritikou

Cells respond rapidly to extracellular signals by regulating the expression of target genes. This is achieved by modifying transcription factors that translocate to the nucleus and activate the expression of many downstream genes. Biochemistry and imaging of fixed cells have shown that transcription factors translocate

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 826 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2537

Author: Ekat Kritikou

Although it is now well established that vesicular transport has important roles in both cell migration and cytokinesis, the mechanisms by which this occurs remain mostly unclear. Two studies now provide insights into the regulation of integrin trafficking in both processes by the Rab family

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 824 (2008). doi:10.1038/nrm2539

Author: Asher Mullard

Apoptosis provides a force that enables dorsal closure in Drosophila melanogaster development, report Yusuke Toyama and colleagues in Science. This finding not only demonstrates a new role for apoptosis in dorsal closure, it also suggests that apoptotic forces might be generally important in