Cell Biology

Imaging analysis of six human histone H1 variants reveals universal enrichment of H1.2, H1.3, and H1.5 at the nuclear periphery and nucleolar H1X presence

1. Monica Salinas-Pena
2. Elena Rebollo
3. Albert Jordan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript is an important advance in the study of Histone H1s, finding distinct distributions of various H1 variants in the genome. The controls presented by the authors provide convincing evidence to demonstrate a heterogenous distribution of H1 which might reflect functional regulation of chromatin accessibility by linker histones. This work will be of interest to the genome organization field, and could additionally provide a framework for understanding H1 mis-regulation observed in cancer cells.

Reviewed by eLife

Membrane contact sites regulate vacuolar fission via sphingolipid metabolism

1. Kazuki Hanaoka
2. Kensuke Nishikawa
3. Atsuko Ikeda
4. Philipp Schlarmann
5. Saku Sasaki
6. Sotaro Fujii
7. Sayumi Yamashita
8. Aya Nakaji
9. Kouichi Funato

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript presents valuable findings that contribute to our understanding of how sphingolipids and membrane contact sites, formed by the tethering protein family tricalbins, are involved in regulating vacuolar morphology in S. cerevisiae. The evidence supporting the authors' claims is largely solid. While the reported correlation between sphingolipid levels and vacuole homeostasis is interesting and intriguing, more work is needed to thoroughly substantiate the proposed mechanism. This study will be of interest to cell biologists focusing on intracellular organization and lipid metabolism.

Reviewed by eLife

High-energy demand and nutrient exhaustion in MTCH2 knockout cells

1. Sabita Chourasia
2. Christopher Petucci
3. Hu Wang
4. Xianlin Han
5. Ehud Sivan
6. Alexander Brandis
7. Tevie Mehlman
8. Sergey Malitsky
9. Maxim Itkin
10. Ron Rotkopf
11. Limor Regev
12. Yehudit Zaltsman
13. Atan Gross

Reviewed by Review Commons

The Septin Cytoskeleton is Required for Plasma Membrane Repair

1. M. Isabella Prislusky
2. Jonathan GT Lam
3. Viviana Ruiz Contreras
4. Marilynn Ng
5. Madeline Chamberlain
6. Sarika Pathak-Sharma
7. Madalyn Fields
8. Xiaoli Zhang
9. Amal O. Amer
10. Stephanie Seveau

Reviewed by Review Commons

Effect of α-tubulin acetylation on the doublet microtubule structure

1. Shun Kai Yang
2. Shintaroh Kubo
3. Corbin Steven Black
4. Katya Peri
5. Daniel Dai
6. Thibault Legal
7. Melissa Valente-Paterno
8. Jacek Gaertig
9. Khanh Huy Bui

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This fundamental study employs a combination of cryo-electron microscopy, molecular dynamics, and mass spectrometry to elucidate the role of α-tubulin acetylation at the lumenal lysine 40 residue (αK40) within the cilium. Compelling evidence shows αK40 acetylation to impact the structure and stability of doublet microtubules in cilia by affecting the lateral rotational angle. The work will be of relevance to those interested in cytoskeleton and structural biology.

Reviewed by eLife

Unbiased identification of cell identity in dense mixed neural cultures

1. Sarah De Beuckeleer
2. Tim Van De Looverbosch
3. Johanna Van Den Daele
4. Peter Ponsaerts
5. Winnok H. De Vos

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents an important application of high-content image-based morphological profiling to quantitatively and systematically characterize induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mixed neural cultures cell type compositions. Convincing evidence through rigorous experimental and computational validations supports new potential applications of this cheap and simple assay.

Reviewed by eLife

Testosterone-Induced Metabolic Changes in Seminal Vesicle Epithelial cells Alter Plasma Components to Enhance Sperm Fertility

1. Takahiro Yamanaka
2. Zimo Xiao
3. Natsumi Tsujita
4. Mahmoud Awad
5. Takashi Umehara
6. Masayuki Shimada

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study reports a potentially important discovery that testosterone-induced metabolic changes in seminal vesicle epithelial cells lead to the production of oleic acids in seminal plasma to enhance sperm fertility. The evidence to support metabolic changes in seminal vesicles and the identification of oleic acid as a key factor in seminal plasma is solid. However, the evidence for how oleic acids support enhanced sperm fertility in vivo is not well supported, thus currently remains incomplete, and requires further study.

Reviewed by eLife

Novel autophagy inducers by accelerating lysosomal clustering against Parkinson’s disease

1. Yuki Date
2. Yukiko Sasazawa
3. Mitsuhiro Kitagawa
4. Kentaro Gejima
5. Ayami Suzuki
6. Hideyuki Saya
7. Yasuyuki Kida
8. Masaya Imoto
9. Eisuke Itakura
10. Nobutaka Hattori
11. Shinji Saiki

Reviewed by Review Commons

The Hippo kinase cascade regulates a contractile cell behavior and cell density in a close unicellular relative of animals

1. Jonathan E Phillips
2. Duojia Pan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study examines the ancestral function of Hippo pathway kinases in contractility and cell density in the ameboid organism Capsaspora owczarzaki, a unicellular animal that is a close relative of multicellular animals. There is convincing evidence for Hippo kinases regulating contractility and cell density but not proliferation in C. owczarzaki. The work complements previous work on the Hippo effector Yorkie homolog in this species, although the unavailability of extensive genetic tools in this species precludes informative epistasis experiments. The work would be of interest to evolutionary and developmental biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Complementary Cytoskeletal Feedback Loops Control Signal Transduction Excitability and Cell Polarity

1. Jonathan Kuhn
2. Parijat Banerjee
3. Andrew Haye
4. Douglas N. Robinson
5. Pablo A. Iglesias
6. Peter N. Devreotes

Reviewed by preLights