Cell Biology

Syncytin-mediated open-ended membrane tubular connections facilitate the intercellular transfer of cargos including Cas9 protein

1. Congyan Zhang
2. Randy Schekman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This convincing demonstration of intercellular transfer of material and its subsequent function in the acceptor cell lends important evidence for the membrane tubular systems' role in cell communication. Importantly a fusogenic protein, syncytin, is shown to play a role in providing an open connection between the cytoplasms of both the acceptor and donor cells. The work has implications for how cells can influence each other's functions.

Reviewed by eLife

Ciliary tip actin dynamics regulate photoreceptor outer segment integrity

1. Roly Megaw
2. Abigail Moye
3. Zhixian Zhang
4. Fay Newton
5. Fraser McPhie
6. Laura C. Murphy
7. Lisa McKie
8. Feng He
9. Melissa K. Jungnickel
10. Alex von Kriegsheim
11. Peter A. Tennant
12. Chloe Brotherton
13. Christine Gurniak
14. Alecia K. Gross
15. Laura M. Machesky
16. Theodore G. Wensel
17. Pleasantine Mill

Reviewed by Life Science Editors

Competition between myosin II and βH-spectrin regulates cytoskeletal tension

1. Consuelo Ibar
2. Krishna Chinthalapudi
3. Sarah M Heissler
4. Kenneth D Irvine

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The manuscript provides valuable insights into the regulatory role and mechanisms of the spectrin cytoskeleton in mechanotransduction in Drosophila. The data are compelling in establishing that alpha and beta spectrin regulate the Hippo signaling pathway independently via their effect on cytoskeletal tension. The work will be of interest to cell and developmental biologists, particularly those who focus on mechanotransduction and the cytoskeleton.

Reviewed by eLife

Cohesin-independent STAG proteins interact with RNA and R-loops and promote complex loading

1. Hayley Porter
2. Yang Li
3. Maria Victoria Neguembor
4. Manuel Beltran
5. Wazeer Varsally
6. Laura Martin
7. Manuel Tavares Cornejo
8. Dubravka Pezić
9. Amandeep Bhamra
10. Silvia Surinova
11. Richard G Jenner
12. Maria Pia Cosma
13. Suzana Hadjur

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides evidence that the Stromalin Antigen (SA) proteins known to ubiquitously interact with cohesins, retain their capacity to bind CTCF and chromatin in the absence of RAD21 cohesin component. Authors imply that SA has an independent function in addition to its joint role with RAD21 and CTCF, providing experiments that make them suggest that SA proteins organize around RNA:DNA regions in the absence of cohesin, contributing to R-loop regulation and linking chromatin on structure to cohesin loading. The paper is a nice piece of work of interest to readers in the field of cohesin biology and genome organization. However, additional, experiments would be required to strengthen some of the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

PASK links cellular energy metabolism with a mitotic self-renewal network to establish differentiation competence

1. Michael Xiao
2. Chia-Hua Wu
3. Graham Meek
4. Brian Kelly
5. Dara Buendia Castillo
6. Lyndsay EA Young
7. Sara Martire
8. Sajina Dhungel
9. Elizabeth McCauley
10. Purbita Saha
11. Altair L Dube
12. Matthew S Gentry
13. Laura A Banaszynski
14. Ramon C Sun
15. Chintan K Kikani

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study advances the understanding of metabolic regulation underpinning self-renewal of stem cells. The authors report that glutamine-dependent acetylation of the kinase PASK regulates its nuclear localization. Evidence is provided that nuclear PASK binds and disrupts Wdr5 association with the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome and is a trigger for the activation of myogenic programs in cultured cells. The study will be of interest to an audience in the areas of stem cells, regeneration and metabolic signalling.

Reviewed by eLife

A mouse model of human mitofusin-2-related lipodystrophy exhibits adipose-specific mitochondrial stress and reduced leptin secretion

1. Jake P Mann
2. Xiaowen Duan
3. Satish Patel
4. Luis Carlos Tábara
5. Fabio Scurria
6. Anna Alvarez-Guaita
7. Afreen Haider
8. Ineke Luijten
9. Matthew Page
10. Margherita Protasoni
11. Koini Lim
12. Sam Virtue
13. Stephen O'Rahilly
14. Martin Armstrong
15. Julien Prudent
16. Robert K Semple
17. David B Savage

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript describes a mouse model of a human mitofusin 2- related lipodystrophy, generated by knockin of Mfn2 R707W, and reports data suggesting adipocyte-specific effects involving the integrated stress response, mTorc signaling, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition pathways. The data will be important for understanding how mitochondria can be affected in tissue-specific manner to contribute to metabolic disease.

Reviewed by eLife

An RNA-based feed-forward mechanism ensures motor switching in oskar mRNA transport

1. Imre Gáspár
2. Ly Jane Phea
3. Mark A. McClintock
4. Simone Heber
5. Simon L. Bullock
6. Anne Ephrussi

Reviewed by Review Commons

Meisosomes, folded membrane microdomains between the apical extracellular matrix and epidermis

1. Dina Aggad
2. Nicolas Brouilly
3. Shizue Omi
4. Clara Luise Essmann
5. Benoit Dehapiot
6. Cathy Savage-Dunn
7. Fabrice Richard
8. Chantal Cazevieille
9. Kristin A Politi
10. David H Hall
11. Remy Pujol
12. Nathalie Pujol

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study thoroughly characterizes the morphology of an interesting folded membrane structure that links the epidermis to the cuticle in C. elegans. This structure, here named the meiosome, has been noted by several previous researchers. The study would be strengthened by providing additional support to the notion that the VHA-5::GFP transgenic reporter, used by the authors, faithfully labels the meisosome, and by stronger evidence that meiosomes indeed serve as attachment platforms between the cuticle and the epidermis.

Reviewed by eLife

S-adenosylmethionine synthases specify distinct H3K4me3 populations and gene expression patterns during heat stress

1. Adwait A Godbole
2. Sneha Gopalan
3. Thien-Kim Nguyen
4. Alexander L Munden
5. Dominique S Lui
6. Matthew J Fanelli
7. Paula Vo
8. Caroline A Lewis
9. Jessica B Spinelli
10. Thomas G Fazzio
11. Amy K Walker

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The manuscript proposes a mechanism by which different S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) synthase enzymes exhibit specificity towards target sequences, thereby proposing a novel layer of control over H3K4 trimethylation (H3K4me3). Such specificity is demonstrated in the context of responses to heat stress for two Caenorhabditis elegans SAM synthase enzymes, supporting the existence and importance of this novel mechanism of epigenetic control.

Reviewed by eLife

Enhanced single RNA imaging reveals dynamic gene expression in live animals

1. Yucen Hu
2. Jingxiu Xu
3. Erqing Gao
4. Xueyuan Fan
5. Jieli Wei
6. Bingcheng Ye
7. Suhong Xu
8. Weirui Ma

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this manuscript, the authors devised a new, useful mRNA-imaging approach by combining MS2 and SunTag labeling systems. The authors showed that this new method can be used to image the activation of gene expression and endogenous mRNA dynamics in live C. elegans. While the application in C. elegans has great future potential, this study is incomplete because it lacks essential characterization of the new imaging method to demonstrate that it does not interfere with RNA expression.

Reviewed by eLife