Cell Biology

TNF-alpha promotes cilia elongation via Mixed Lineage Kinases signaling

1. Amrita Kumari
2. Amada Caliz
3. Shashi Kant
4. Anastassiia Vertii

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Spastin locally amplifies microtubule dynamics to pattern the axon for presynaptic cargo delivery

1. Jayne Aiken
2. Erika L. F. Holzbaur

Reviewed by preLights

Alternative end-joining results in smaller deletions in heterochromatin relative to euchromatin

1. Jacob M. Miller
2. Sydney Prange
3. Huanding Ji
4. Alesandra R. Rau
5. Varandt Y. Khodaverdian
6. Xiao Li
7. Avi Patel
8. Nadejda Butova
9. Avery Lutter
10. Helen Chung
11. Chiara Merigliano
12. Chetan C. Rawal
13. Terrence Hanscom
14. Mitch McVey
15. Irene Chiolo

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript describes valuable new findings on the impact of chromatin context on the outcomes of microhomology-mediated end joining of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), specifically a preference for DSB-proximal microhomologies in repair within a heterochromatic compared to a euchromatic locus. The authors develop the Drosophila spermatogonia as a model for repair at induced DSBs in a mitotically-active tissue and leverage this system to provide convincing evidence that the local environment impacts the preference for repair mechanism and outcome. The work could be strengthened by the use of additional euchromatin insertion(s) to robustly validate the findings.

Reviewed by eLife

Atlas of Plasmodium falciparum intraerythrocytic development using expansion microscopy

1. Benjamin Liffner
2. Ana Karla Cepeda Diaz
3. James Blauwkamp
4. David Anaguano
5. Sonja Frolich
6. Vasant Muralidharan
7. Danny W Wilson
8. Jeffrey D Dvorin
9. Sabrina Absalon

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study provides an unprecedented overview of the subcellular organization of proliferative blood stage malaria parasites using expansion microscopy. The localization of multiple parasite organelles is comprehensively probed using three-dimensional super-resolution microscopy throughout the entire intraerythrocytic development cycle. This work provides a compelling framework to investigate in future more deeply the unconventional cell biology of malaria-causing parasites.

Reviewed by eLife, preLights, Life Science Editors

Trabid patient mutations impede the axonal trafficking of adenomatous polyposis coli to disrupt neurite growth

1. Daniel Frank
2. Maria Bergamasco
3. Michael J Mlodzianoski
4. Andrew Kueh
5. Ellen Tsui
6. Cathrine Hall
7. Georgios Kastrappis
8. Anne Kathrin Voss
9. Catriona McLean
10. Maree Faux
11. Kelly L Rogers
12. Bang Tran
13. Elizabeth Vincan
14. David Komander
15. Grant Dewson
16. Hoanh Tran

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study defines the roles for two different missense mutations observed in patients in the Trabid/ZRANB1 gene associated in children with a range of congenital disorders including reduced brain size. The study is important because the findings have theoretical or practical implications beyond a single subfield, as the study of DUB and cytoskeletal alterations have implications for neurodevelopment broadly. The methods are convincing as they utilize appropriate and validated methodology in line with current state-of-the-art by incorporating knock-in mice of the patient mutations. Many of the reviewer comments were focused on potential next experiments, rather than on evaluation of the data at hand, and the authors have considered these as future studies. The work as presented suggests critical roles for Trabid in the STRIPAK complex mediating APC deubiquitylation.

Reviewed by eLife

Heterogeneous non-canonical nucleosomes predominate in yeast cells in situ

1. Zhi Yang Tan
2. Shujun Cai
3. Alex J Noble
4. Jon K Chen
5. Jian Shi
6. Lu Gan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important paper exploits new cryo-EM tomography tools to examine the state of chromatin in situ. The experimental work is meticulously performed, with a vast amount of data collected, with convincing interpretation of possible nucleosomal structures in yeast. The majority of these nucleosomes appear not to possess stable octameric configurations. Although it cannot be excluded that there could be an unknown bias in class detection, we agree that the authors have gone as far as is possible, given constraints in current technology and analysis, to support their model. Despite the provocative nature of this report, it is our hope that such work will spark debate, and further the development of exciting new tools that can interrogate the dynamic nature of the nucleosome, and its associated functions in situ.

Reviewed by eLife

Pharmacological inhibition of CLK2 activates YAP by promoting alternative splicing of AMOTL2

1. Maya L Bulos
2. Edyta M Grzelak
3. Chloris Li-Ma
4. Emily Chen
5. Mitchell Hull
6. Kristen A Johnson
7. Michael J Bollong

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper reports important findings on a potent activator of the YAP pathway, demonstrating its mechanism through alternative splicing changes. The authors provide convincing evidence to support their claims. This research is of interest to biologists studying alternative splicing or the Hippo pathway, with significant implications for medical research.

Reviewed by eLife