Contents
Vol 1, Issue 50
Contents
Meeting Report
- Ontologies of Cellular Networks
A meeting of philosophers and biologists reveals the great diversity in ideas about how pathway information can be organized.
Podcast
- Science Signaling Podcast: 16 December 2008
Binding of CD3ε subunits to plasma membrane lipids blocks T cell receptor signaling.
Editors' Choice
- Luminal Sensors from the Basal Side
Basal cells extend projections that reach the luminal surface and respond to luminal hormones.
- Vesicles to Stream By
Migrating Dictyostelium cells leave behind vesicles containing adenylyl cyclase, creating a path of chemoattractant for other cells to follow.
- Invariant Chain Migration Control
By binding to a myosin, an immune-specific protein known to control antigen processing also regulates the migration of dendritic cells, possibly coordinating the two functions.
- Cytoskeleton and Substrate Stiffness
A model that predicts that substrate/surface stiffness acts through a cellular motor-clutch mechanism to alter retrograde flow rates and traction is confirmed in chick neurons.
- Sensitive Fluorescence
A FRET-based sensor enables the live monitoring of the temporal and spatial dynamics of ERK activity in cells and intact tissues.
- Damage Control for Mitochondria
Parkin translocates to mitochondria with low membrane potentials and causes their autophagic removal.
- Meiosis in the Making
Mouse germ cells begin meiosis for sperm or egg production only when they both are stimulated by the hormone retinoic acid and express a particular RNA-binding protein.
- Shaping Up
The growth pattern of the plant meristem, the group of stem cells at the tip of a growing shoot, is controlled by a microtubule-based mechanical feedback loop.
- Food for Thought
Brain cells monitor metabolism to appropriately control blood flow according to neuronal activity and oxygen supply.
