Cytoskeleton articles within Nature

Featured

  • Article |

    Using micropipette aspiration on donated human embryos, cell surface tensions during compaction were mapped, indicating a role for defective cell contractility in poor quality embryos.

    • Julie Firmin
    • , Nicolas Ecker
    •  & Jean-Léon Maître

  • Article |

    The intricate molecular architecture and interactions of the human cardiac myosin filament offer insights into cardiac physiology, disease and drug therapy.

    • Debabrata Dutta
    • , Vu Nguyen
    •  & Roger Craig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Detailed atomic models of axonemes from algal flagella and human respiratory cilia, which are hair-like protrusions from cells that enable motility and clear mucus from human airways, could provide insights into how they function.

    • Travis Walton
    • , Miao Gui
    •  & Alan Brown

  • Article |

    Functional mutations identified in patients with androgen insensitivity syndrome, in the formin and actin nucleator DAAM2, uncover signal-regulated nuclear actin assembly at a steroid hormone receptor necessary for transcription.

    • Julian Knerr
    • , Ralf Werner
    •  & Nadine C. Hornig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The endoplasmic reticulum proteins CLIMP63, kinectin and p180 bind preferentially to subsets of microtubules with different post-translational modifications, thereby linking the ‘tubulin code’ to the intracellular distribution of membrane organelles.

    • Pengli Zheng
    • , Christopher J. Obara
    •  & Craig Blackstone

  • Article |

    MARK4 regulates cardiomyocyte contractility by promoting MAP4 phosphorylation, which facilitates the access of VASH2 to microtubules for the detyrosination of α-tubulin; MARK4 deficiency after acute myocardial infarction limits the reduction in the left ventricular ejection fraction.

    • Xian Yu
    • , Xiao Chen
    •  & Xuan Li

  • Article |

    Mechanical load-sharing enables the long-range cooperative uptake of apoptotic cells by multiple epithelial cells; and clearance of these apoptotic cells facilitates error correction, which is necessary for developmental robustness and survival of the embryo.

    • Esteban Hoijman
    • , Hanna-Maria Häkkinen
    •  & Verena Ruprecht

  • Article |

    The structure of myosin-2 in the shutdown state reveals how the shutdown state is stabilized and how phosphorylation of light chains allows myosin to be activated.

    • Charlotte A. Scarff
    • , Glenn Carrington
    •  & Michelle Peckham

  • Article |

    High-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure of smooth muscle myosin II in the inhibited state enables increased understanding of the functions of the head and tail regions in regulation of myosin activity and the pathological mechanisms of disease mutations.

    • Shixin Yang
    • , Prince Tiwari
    •  & Roger Craig

  • Article |

    Differences in the mechanical properties of individual cardiomyocytes drive their segregation into compact versus trabecular layer, thereby transforming the myocardium in a developing heart from a simple epithelium into an intricately patterned tissue with distinct cell fates.

    • Rashmi Priya
    • , Srinivas Allanki
    •  & Didier Y. R. Stainier

  • Article |

    Within three-dimensional environments, leukocytes can migrate even in the complete absence of adhesive forces using the topographical features of the substrate to propel themselves.

    • Anne Reversat
    • , Florian Gaertner
    •  & Michael Sixt

  • Article |

    Glycolysis in normal epithelial cells responds to microenvironmental mechanics via the modulation of actin bundles that sequester the phosphofructokinase-targeting ubiquitin ligase TRIM21, a process superseded by persistent actin bundles in cancer cells.

    • Jin Suk Park
    • , Christoph J. Burckhardt
    •  & Gaudenz Danuser

  • Article |

    The cryo-EM structure of the γ-tubulin ring complex (γ-TuRC) from Xenopus laevis provides insights into the molecular organization of the complex, and shows that actin is a structural component that is functionally relevant to microtubule nucleation.

    • Peng Liu
    • , Erik Zupa
    •  & Elmar Schiebel

  • Article |

    Tissue shape changes in the posterior endoderm of the early Drosophila embryo are driven by actomyosin contractions emerging from a transcriptional induction followed by a mechanically-driven propagation of RhoI–myosin II activation.

    • Anaïs Bailles
    • , Claudio Collinet
    •  & Thomas Lecuit

  • Letter |

    Cryo-electron tomography reveals a detailed view of the structural organization of the lamin meshwork within the lamina of the mammalian cell nucleus.

    • Yagmur Turgay
    • , Matthias Eibauer
    •  & Ohad Medalia

  • Letter |

    Central spindle asymmetry, generated by the kinesin Klp10A and its antagonist Patronin, polarizes endosome motility and provides a mechanism for the asymmetric segregation of signalling endosomes observed in a variety of asymmetrically dividing cell types.

    • Emmanuel Derivery
    • , Carole Seum
    •  & Marcos Gonzalez-Gaitan

  • Letter |

    It is widely accepted that contraction of skeletal muscle and the heart involves structural changes in actin-containing thin filaments to allow binding of myosin motors from neighbouring thick filaments, thus driving filament sliding; here, X-ray diffraction of single skeletal muscle cells reveals that this thin-filament mechanism can regulate muscle contraction against low load, but high-load contraction requires a second permissive step involving a structural change in the thick filament.

    • Marco Linari
    • , Elisabetta Brunello
    •  & Malcolm Irving

  • Letter |

    Repeated contacts between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and a subset of endosomes called late endosomes (LEs) is shown to promote microtubule-dependent translocation of LEs to the cell periphery and their subsequent fusion with the plasma membrane to induce outgrowth of neuronal protrusions.

    • Camilla Raiborg
    • , Eva M. Wenzel
    •  & Harald Stenmark

  • Letter |

    Apoptotic cell death is required for morphogenesis of the developing leg joint of fruitflies; using this model system, the authors show here that within apoptotic cells a transient pulling force exerted through a highly dynamic apico-basal myosin II cable-like structure acts as a mechanical signal to increase tissue tension and modify tissue shape.

    • Bruno Monier
    • , Melanie Gettings
    •  & Magali Suzanne

  • Letter |

    An optogenetic strategy allowing light-mediated recruitment of distinct cytoskeletal motor proteins to specific organelles is established; this technique enabled rapid and reversible activation or inhibition of the transport of organelles such as peroxisomes, recycling endosomes and mitochondria with high spatiotemporal accuracy, and the approach was also applied to primary neurons to demonstrate optical control of axonal growth by recycling endosome repositioning.

    • Petra van Bergeijk
    • , Max Adrian
    •  & Lukas C. Kapitein

  • Letter |

    The structure and function of CetZ, a protein related to both tubulin and FtsZ (the bacterial homologue of tubulin) from the archaeon Haloferax volcanii, is reported and its involvement in the control of cell shape uncovered; it appears that this family of proteins was involved in the control of cell shape long before the evolution of eukaryotes.

    • Iain G. Duggin
    • , Christopher H. S. Aylett
    •  & Jan Löwe

  • Letter |

    Electron cryomicroscopy reveals the three-dimensional structure of F-actin at a resolution of 3.7 Å in complex with tropomyosin at a resolution of 6.5 Å; the stabilizing interactions and the effects of disease-causing mutants are also investigated.

    • Julian von der Ecken
    • , Mirco Müller
    •  & Stefan Raunser

  • Letter |

    Cancer cells often have extra centrosomes, a paradox considering the detrimental effect extra centrosomes usually have on cell division; a study of human cells reveals that extra centrosomes can promote cancer cell invasion phenotypes through a pathway involving increased microtubule nucleation and Rac1 activity.

    • Susana A. Godinho
    • , Remigio Picone
    •  & David Pellman

  • Letter |

    A new protein, Arpin, is identified that inhibits the Arp2/3 complex and controls cell migration by decreasing cell speed and the directional persistence of migration; this inhibitory circuit is under the control of the small GTPase Rac1, and Arpin depletion causes faster lamellipodia protrusion and increased cell migration.

    • Irene Dang
    • , Roman Gorelik
    •  & Alexis Gautreau

  • Letter |

    Structural and functional analysis of the centralspindlin complex shows that it connects the mitotic spindle to the plasma membrane during cytokinesis through interactions of the C1 domain of centralspindlin’s MgcRacGAP subunit with phosphoinositide lipids.

    • Sergey Lekomtsev
    • , Kuan-Chung Su
    •  & Mark Petronczki

  • News & Views |

    Recognition of aberrant cell death is a crucial function of the immune system. It seems that one way in which immune cells identify damage is by sensing actin, an abundant intracellular protein.

    • Gordon D. Brown

  • News & Views |

    An artificial system of microtubules propelled by dynein motor proteins self-organizes into a pattern of whirling rings. This observation may provide insight into collective motion in biological systems. See Letter p.448

    • Tamás Vicsek

  • Article |

    The crystal structure of the entire motor domain of cytoplasmic dynein at the highest resolution so far is presented, giving insights into the communication between the different subdomains of the motor.

    • Takahide Kon
    • , Takuji Oyama
    •  & Genji Kurisu

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