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1. ArpC5 isoforms regulate Arp2/3 complex-dependent protrusion through differential Ena/VASP positioning

   This article's authors

   1. Florian Fäßler
   2. Manjunath G Javoor
   3. Julia Datler
   4. Hermann Döring
   5. Florian W Hofer
   6. Georgi Dimchev
   7. Victor-Valentin Hodirnau
   8. Klemens Rottner
   9. Florian KM Schur

   Annotation by AvasthiReading

   Understanding ARPC5 and its isoforms, a component of the branched actin nucleating Arp2/3 complex is a fascinating topic. They find here (in addition to effects on ARPC1 and ENA/VASP) that knocking out both isoforms eliminates lamellipodia (the branched actin sheets at the leading edge of migrating cells). Some fun facts: Chlamydomonas cells don’t seem to have an ARPC5 (though we are working to confirm this), nor lamallipodia AND ARPC5 is the target of a microRNA miR-133a that is up-regulated in many human cancers. There are lots of interesting migration/metastasis related implications for ARPC5 regulation.

2. Beyond sequence similarity: cross-phyla protein annotation by structural prediction and alignment

   This article's authors

   1. Fabian Ruperti
   2. Nikolaos Papadopoulos
   3. Jacob Musser
   4. Detlev Arendt

   Annotation by AvasthiReading

   If you’ve ever worked in a model or non-model system, finding putative orthologs can be difficult given low sequence homology. Structure is much more well conserved across taxa and given recent advancements in structural prediction made possible by AlphaFold2 and methods built upon it (here ColabFold), structural homology based functional annotation of proteins across phyla is easier than ever!

3. Condensate functionalization with motors directs their nucleation in space and allows manipulating RNA localization

   This article's authors

   1. Audrey Cochard
   2. Adham Safieddine
   3. Pauline Combe
   4. Marie-Noëlle Benassy
   5. Dominique Weil
   6. Zoher Gueroui

   Annotation by AvasthiReading

   A useful tool that can be used for testing functions of localized mRNAs and consequences of disrupting their targeting. Condensate scaffolds and chemically inducible condensates are engineered to test effects of motor proteins on mRNA/RNP localization. The scaffolds move based on typical motor direction (minus end microtubule motors were much faster for transport of non-functionalized condensate scaffolds, possibly due to availability of scaffolds and molecular crowding in different parts of the cell). Chemically inducible condensate formation on motors was achieved and mRNA recruitment to condensates successfully disrupted endogenous localization.

4. APC couples neuronal mRNAs to multiple kinesins, EB1 and shrinking microtubule ends for bidirectional mRNA motility

   This article's authors

   1. Sebastian J. Baumann
   2. Julia Grawenhoff
   3. Elsa C. Rodrigues
   4. Silvia Speroni
   5. Maria Gili
   6. Artem Komissarov
   7. Sebastian P. Maurer

   Annotation by AvasthiReading

   I somehow missed this the first time but this [revision] is unbelievably cool. APC can bind the 3’UTR of RNAs as an adaptor for kinesin-1 and -2 (the ciliary kinesin!) for trafficking on mictotubules. This is shown via in vitro reconstitution experiments and it appears that these complexes track plus ends in an EB1 dependent manner but can stay associated in shrinking MTs in an EB1-independent manner.

5. Multifunctional fluorophores for live-cell imaging and affinity capture of proteins

   This article's authors

   1. Pratik Kumar
   2. Jason D. Vevea
   3. Edwin R. Chapman
   4. Luke D. Lavis

   Annotation by AvasthiReading

   This is awesome. Multifunctional cell permeable ligands (fluorophore+biotin) that can be used with haloTag fusion proteins for both visualization and affinity capture!

6. Large-scale identification of phospho-modulated motif-based protein-protein interactions

   This article's authors

   1. Johanna Kliche
   2. Dimitriya Hristoforova Garvanska
   3. Leandro Simonetti
   4. Dilip Badgujar
   5. Doreen Dobritzsch
   6. Jakob Nilsson
   7. Norman Davey
   8. Ylva Ivarsson

   Annotation by AvasthiReading

   Omg this is so cool! A peptide phage display approach to screen for functionally relevant phospho-sites. They do some structural, evolutionary and other analyses to prioritize phosphorites within intrinsically disordered regions containing short linear motifs that often mediate phospho-dependent interactions. They then screen through expression/binding to uncover novel interactions mediated by phosphorylation that they are able to validate in many instances. Neat approach and a wealth of data to be mined. Check out the supplemental tables.

7. Granger-causal inference of the lamellipodial actin regulator hierarchy by live cell imaging without perturbation

   This article's authors

   1. Jungsik Noh
   2. Tadamoto Isogai
   3. Joseph Chi
   4. Kushal Bhatt
   5. Gaudenz Danuser

   Annotation by AvasthiReading

   Super interesting study on inferring causal relationships between molecular pathways and cell behavior, something I’m very interested in given molecular detail isn’t accessible for so many cells/species.

8. Targeted protein degradation using degradFP in Trypanosoma brucei

   This article's authors

   1. Midori Ishii
   2. Bungo Akiyoshi

   Annotation by AvasthiReading

   Nice! Targeted degradation of GFP tagged proteins in Trypanosomes. They applied degradFP, which fuses a GFP nanobody with a protein that recruits an E3 ubiquitin ligase, causing ubiquitination and degradation of the GFP-tagged target.

9. TTBK2 controls cilium stability through actin and the centrosomal compartment

   This article's authors

   1. Abraham Nguyen
   2. Sarah C. Goetz

   Annotation by AvasthiReading

   Some interesting interactions here consistent with actin’s role in restricting mammalian ciliogenesis: decreased ciliation and increased breakage caused by inducible disruption of Tau Tubulin Kinase 2 is partially rescued by inhibitors of actin polymerization and myosin VI.

10. Improved methods for bulk cultivation and fixation of Loxodes ciliates for fluorescence microscopy

    This article's authors

    1. Brandon Kwee Boon Seah
    2. Christiane Emmerich
    3. Aditi Singh
    4. Estienne Swart

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    Quite impressive morphology preservation and immunofluorescence results with a new fixative containing zinc sulfate, formaldehyde, acetic acid, & ethanol for Loxodes (a ciliate genus)

11. Cell walls are dynamically O-acetylated in the green seaweed, Ulva compressa

    This article's authors

    1. John H. Bothwell
    2. Alexander J. Goodridge
    3. Marie Rapin
    4. Patrick J. Brennan
    5. Alexandra Traslaviña López
    6. Akanksha Agrawal
    7. Stephen C. Fry
    8. Georgia Campbell
    9. Jonas Blomme

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    An interesting paper identifying stress-induced modification (O-acetylation) in the cell wall of the green seaweed, Ulva compressa. It contains a protocol for chlorophyte cell wall fractionation.

12. Signal Peptide Efficiency: from High-throughput Data to Prediction and Explanation

    This article's authors

    1. Stefano Grasso
    2. Valentina Dabene
    3. Margriet M.W.B. Hendriks
    4. Priscilla Zwartjens
    5. René Pellaux
    6. Martin Held
    7. Sven Panke
    8. Jan Maarten van Dijl
    9. Andreas Meyer
    10. Tjeerd van Rij

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    Whoa nice, a systematic analyses of thousands of signal peptide sequences and effects on properties affecting secretion

13. ERK pathway activation inhibits ciliogenesis and causes defects in motor behavior, ciliary gating, and cytoskeletal rearrangement

    This article's authors

    1. Larissa L Dougherty
    2. Soumita Dutta
    3. Prachee Avasthi

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    Again I get to highlight one of our new preprints! This one tackles the intricate interplay between cell division and ciliogenesis. Using genetics, biochemistry, four different imaging modalities, and two organisms, we identified cytoskeletal, motor, and trafficking defects causing impaired cilium formation when activating a major cell proliferation and cancer pathway.

14. Blind spots on western blots: a meta-research study highlighting opportunities to improve figures and methods reporting

    This article's authors

    1. Cristina Kroon
    2. Larissa Breuer
    3. Lydia Jones
    4. Jeehye An
    5. Ayça Akan
    6. Elkhansa Ahmed Mohamed Ali
    7. Felix Busch
    8. Marinus Fislage
    9. Biswajit Ghosh
    10. Max Hellrigel-Holderbaum
    11. Vartan Kazezian
    12. Alina Koppold
    13. Cesar Alberto Moreira Restrepo
    14. Nico Riedel
    15. Lea Scherschinski
    16. Fernando Raúl Urrutia Gonzalez
    17. Tracey Weissgerber

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    There may not be a technique as over-interpreted relative to the information that it can provide as a western blot but this is made worse by ignoring best practices and my favorite, using a single protein as an unvalidated loading control. This analysis of westerns from the literature highlights some better display and reporting practices

15. Vast heterogeneity in cytoplasmic diffusion rates revealed by nanorheology and Doppelgӓnger simulations

    This article's authors

    1. Rikki M. Garner
    2. Arthur T. Molines
    3. Julie A. Theriot
    4. Fred Chang

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    Stunning result of immense heterogeneity possible in cytoplasmic viscosity affecting diffusive cellular processes

16. Liquid-like VASP condensates drive actin polymerization and dynamic bundling

    This article's authors

    1. Kristin Graham
    2. Aravind Chandrasekaran
    3. Liping Wang
    4. Aly Ladak
    5. Eileen M. Lafer
    6. Padmini Rangamani
    7. Jeanne C. Stachowiak

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    I have no idea whether this actually happens in a cell but what an interesting model! I think I audibly gasped at figure 3A.

17. Ultrastructure Expansion Microscopy reveals the nanoscale cellular architecture of budding and fission yeast

    This article's authors

    1. Kerstin Hinterndorfer
    2. Marine. H. Laporte
    3. Felix Mikus
    4. Lucas Tafur Petrozzi
    5. Clélia Bourgoint
    6. Manoel Prouteau
    7. Gautam Dey
    8. Robbie Loewith
    9. Paul Guichard
    10. Virginie Hamel

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    Spectacular expansion microscopy in yeast! I went straight for the cell wall digestion protocol so we can try it in a number of different algae

18. Condensation of the fusion focus by the intrinsically disordered region of the formin Fus1 is essential for cell-cell fusion

    This article's authors

    1. Ingrid Billault-Chaumartin
    2. Olivia Muriel
    3. Laetitia Michon
    4. Sophie G Martin

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    This is so cool! The intrinsically disordered region in a pombe formin is needed to generate the foci needed for actin mediated cell fusion. Both replacement and rescue generate the expected behaviors associated with condensation state. Lots of interesting papers recently on condensates mediating behaviors of actin regulators and polymerization!

19. Protrusion growth driven by myosin-generated force

    This article's authors

    1. Gillian N. Fitz
    2. Meredith L. Weck
    3. Caroline Bodnya
    4. Olivia L. Perkins
    5. Matthew J. Tyska

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    Interesting study showing that membrane-anchored myosin can generate the force necessary for membrane protrusion beyond actin polymerization based mechanisms

20. Centriole growth is not limited by a finite pool of components, but is limited by the Cdk1/Cyclin-dependent phosphorylation of Ana2/STIL

    This article's authors

    1. Thomas L. Steinacker
    2. Siu-Shing Wong
    3. Zsofia A. Novak
    4. Saroj Saurya
    5. Lisa Gartenmann
    6. Eline J.H. van Houtum
    7. Judith R. Sayers
    8. B. Christoffer Lagerholm
    9. Jordan W. Raff

    Annotation by AvasthiReading

    Limiting component models in organelle size control are difficult to pin down as the limiting components themselves are hard to identify. This study identifies an alternate kinase-dependent model for centriole size control.