Cell Biol News Today

Apes possess two sex chromosomes—the male-specific Y chromosome and the X chromosome, which is present in both males and females. The Y chromosome is crucial for male reproduction, with deletions being linked to infertility1. The X chromosome is vital for reproduction and cognition2. Variation in mating patterns and brain function among apes suggests corresponding differences in their sex chromosomes. However, owing to their repetitive nature and incomplete reference assemblies, ape sex ch...

Phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, the two most abundant phospholipids in mammalian cells, are synthesized de novo by the Kennedy pathway from choline and ethanolamine, respectively1–6. Despite the essential roles of these lipids, the mechanisms that enable the cellular uptake of choline and ethanolamine remain unknown. Here we show that the protein encoded by FLVCR1, whose mutation leads to the neurodegenerative syndrome posterior column ataxia and retinitis pigmentosa7&#82...

Most life scientists would agree that understanding how cellular processes work requires structural knowledge about the macromolecules involved. For example, deciphering the double-helical nature of DNA revealed essential aspects of how genetic information is stored, copied and repaired. Yet, being reductionist in nature, structural biology requires the purification of large amounts of macromolecules, often trimmed off larger functional units. The advent of cryogenic electron microscopy...

As hippocampal neurons respond to diverse types of information1, a subset assembles into microcircuits representing a memory2. Those neurons typically undergo energy-intensive molecular adaptations, occasionally resulting in transient DNA damage3–5. Here we found discrete clusters of excitatory hippocampal CA1 neurons with persistent double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) breaks, nuclear envelope ruptures and perinuclear release of histone and dsDNA fragments hours after learning. Following these ear...

AIRE is an unconventional transcription factor that enhances the expression of thousands of genes in medullary thymic epithelial cells and promotes clonal deletion or phenotypic diversion of self-reactive T cells1–4. The biological logic of AIRE’s target specificity remains largely unclear as, in contrast to many transcription factors, it does not bind to a particular DNA sequence motif. Here we implemented two orthogonal approaches to investigate AIRE’s cis-regulatory mechanis...

Transporting small molecules across cell membranes is an essential process in cell physiology. Many structurally diverse, secondary active transporters harness transmembrane electrochemical gradients of ions to power the uptake or efflux of nutrients, signalling molecules, drugs and other ions across cell membranes. Transporters reside in lipid bilayers on the interface between two aqueous compartments, where they are energized and regulated by symported, antiported and allosteric ions ...

It is well established that neutrophils adopt malleable polymorphonuclear shapes to migrate through narrow interstitial tissue spaces1–3. However, how polymorphonuclear structures are assembled remains unknown4. Here we show that in neutrophil progenitors, halting loop extrusion—a motor-powered process that generates DNA loops by pulling in chromatin5—leads to the assembly of polymorphonuclear genomes. Specifically, we found that in mononuclear neutrophil progenitors, acute dep...

Adoptive T cell therapies have produced exceptional responses in a subset of patients with cancer. However, therapeutic efficacy can be hindered by poor T cell persistence and function1. In human T cell cancers, evolution of the disease positively selects for mutations that improve fitness of T cells in challenging situations analogous to those faced by therapeutic T cells. Therefore, we reasoned that these mutations could be co-opted to improve T cell therapies. Here we systematically screened ...

Mitochondria retain bacterial traits due to their endosymbiotic origin, but host cells do not recognize them as foreign because the organelles are sequestered. However, the regulated release of mitochondrial factors into the cytosol can trigger cell death, innate immunity and inflammation. This selective breakdown in the 2-billion-year-old endosymbiotic relationship enables mitochondria to act as intracellular signalling hubs. Mitochondrial signals include proteins, nucleic acids, phospholipids,...

Psychosocial stress has profound effects on the body, including the immune system and the brain1,2. Although a large number of pre-clinical and clinical studies have linked peripheral immune system alterations to stress-related disorders such as major depressive disorder (MDD)3, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here we show that expression of a circulating myeloid cell-specific proteinase, matrix metalloproteinase 8 (MMP8), is increased in the serum of humans with MDD ...