Cell Biology

Generating fast-twitch myotubes in vitro using an optogenetic-based, quantitative contractility assay

1. Katharina Hennig
2. David Hardman
3. David Barata
4. Inês Martins
5. Miguel O. Bernabeu
6. Edgar R. Gomes
7. William Roman

Reviewed by Review Commons

Nazo, the Drosophila homolog of the NBIA-mutated protein–c19orf12, is required for triglyceride homeostasis

1. Perinthottathil Sreejith
2. Sara Lolo
3. Kristen R. Patten
4. Maduka Gunasinghe
5. Neya More
6. Leo J. Pallanck
7. Rajnish Bharadwaj

Reviewed by eLife

Changes in seam number and location induce holes within microtubules assembled from porcine brain tubulin and in Xenopus egg cytoplasmic extracts

1. Charlotte Guyomar
2. Clément Bousquet
3. Siou Ku
4. John M Heumann
5. Gabriel Guilloux
6. Natacha Gaillard
7. Claire Heichette
8. Laurence Duchesne
9. Michel O Steinmetz
10. Romain Gibeaux
11. Denis Chrétien

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The study, using cryo-electron tomography represents a valuable study to the research community, to raise awareness that in vitro-assembled microtubules have more lattice defects than microtubules assembled in cell extracts. However the evidence supporting the claims was incomplete in places and there was not enough data. It is not clear how generalizable these findings are regarding tubulin assembly into microtubules.

Reviewed by eLife

Empagliflozin reduces podocyte lipotoxicity in experimental Alport syndrome

1. Mengyuan Ge
2. Judith Molina
3. Jin-Ju Kim
4. Shamroop K Mallela
5. Anis Ahmad
6. Javier Varona Santos
7. Hassan Al-Ali
8. Alla Mitrofanova
9. Kumar Sharma
10. Flavia Fontanesi
11. Sandra Merscher
12. Alessia Fornoni

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The article is of importance to the field of glomerular diseases and rare diseases. The authors propose a link between the inhibition of SGLT2 and lipotoxicity-mediated renal injury in experimental Alport syndrome (AS) by modulation pathways linked to CKD progression, possibly through metabolic adaption in podocytes. Although there is scientific merit in the work presented, the functional analyses are incomplete to support the claim that effects pharmacological effects are mediated through podocytes in Alport Syndrome.

Reviewed by eLife

Coalescent RNA-localizing and transcriptional activities of SAM68 modulate adhesion and subendothelial basement membrane assembly

1. Zeinab Rekad
2. Michaël Ruff
3. Agata Radwanska
4. Dominique Grall
5. Delphine Ciais
6. Ellen Van Obberghen-Schilling

Reviewed by Review Commons

Multiple polarity kinases inhibit phase separation of F-BAR protein Cdc15 and antagonize cytokinetic ring assembly in fission yeast

1. Rahul Bhattacharjee
2. Aaron R Hall
3. MariaSanta C Mangione
4. Maya G Igarashi
5. Rachel H Roberts-Galbraith
6. Jun-Song Chen
7. Dimitrios Vavylonis
8. Kathleen L Gould

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is a well-designed study to show how phosphorylation of the intrinsically disordered regions can control their ability to undergo liquid-liquid phase separation and thus impact protein function. The authors report how regulation of the F-BAR-containing protein Cdc15 via phosphorylation impacts its ability to phase separate and promote cytokinesis. This paper is of interest to not just the field of cytokinesis, but also to the general field of protein chemistry which is interested in how phase separation controls protein function.

Reviewed by eLife

An ER phospholipid hydrolase drives ER-associated mitochondrial constriction for fission and fusion

1. Tricia T Nguyen
2. Gia K Voeltz

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors have used state of the art tools to discover and visualize the role of a known ER-localized lipid hydrolase/acyl transferase (which they call Aphyd) in creating lipids that facilitate the localization of proteins required for mitochondrial fission and fusion at nodal points of interaction between the ER and mitochondria. The data are clear, quantitative and compelling in respect to the role of this protein in the processes of mitochondrial constriction, fission and fusion.

Reviewed by eLife

Fixation can change the appearance of phase separation in living cells

1. Shawn Irgen-Gioro
2. Shawn Yoshida
3. Victoria Walling
4. Shasha Chong

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Chemical fixation of cells is ubiquitous in microscopy. However, fixation artifacts can lead the incorrect interpretations of biological processes. In here, Irgen-Gioro et al. show that in the context of liquid condensates formed by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), paraformaldehyde (PFA) fixation can lead to artifacts such as changes in the number, appearance, or disappearance of liquid condensates, when comparing fixed to live cells. This will be of great interest not only for those in the LLPS field but for cell biologists, in general, using fixed samples for microscopy.

Reviewed by eLife

mTOR pathway inhibition stimulates pharmacologically induced nonsense suppression

1. Amnon Wittenstein
2. Michal Caspi
3. Ido Rippin
4. Orna Elroy-Stein
5. Hagit Eldar-Finkelmn
6. Sven Thoms
7. Rina Rosin-Arbesfeld

Reviewed by Review Commons

Trisomy 21 induces pericentrosomal crowding delaying primary ciliogenesis and mouse cerebellar development

1. Cayla E Jewett
2. Bailey L McCurdy
3. Eileen T O'Toole
4. Alexander J Stemm-Wolf
5. Katherine S Given
6. Carrie H Lin
7. Valerie Olsen
8. Whitney Martin
9. Laura Reinholdt
10. Joaquín M Espinosa
11. Kelly D Sullivan
12. Wendy B Macklin
13. Rytis Prekeris
14. Chad G Pearson

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work investigates the cellular and cerebellar origins of trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) phenotypes. One human chromosome 21 gene is Pericentrin (PCNT), encoding a component of the centrosome. The authors use several models with 3 or 4 copies of human chromosome 21 (or mouse equivalents) to reveal how increasing PCNT gene dosage alters ciliogenesis and ciliary signaling.

Reviewed by eLife