Tonsaker T et al. (2012) Mech Ageing Dev "Re-evaluating the role of ELT-3 in a GATA transcription factor circuit proposed to guide aging in C. elegans."

Pratt RM, McGhee JD, Tonsaker T

[Mech Ageing Dev, 2012]

Budovskaya et al. (Cell. 134, 291-303, 2008) have proposed that the ELT-3 GATA factor regulates somatic aging genes, including those expressed in the intestine, and participates in a transcription factor circuit that "guides Caenorhabditis elegans aging". We have re-investigated two key features of this proposal: (i) expression of elt-3 in the C. elegans adult intestine where the majority of somatic aging genes are expressed, and; (ii) the ability of elt-3 loss-of-function to revert the extended lifespan of daf-2(e1370) mutants. We find that: (i) in agreement with our previously published results, ELT-3 expression is largely hypodermal and is not expressed at significant levels in the adult C. elegans intestine, and; (ii) the elt-3(vp1) zinc-finger deletion mutant does not significantly influence the extended lifespan of daf-2(e1370) mutants. We thus suggest that the role of ELT-3 in C. elegans aging should be re-evaluated.

Maraia RJ et al. (2013) Genome Biol "It's Sno'ing on Pol III at nuclear pores."

Arimbasseri AG, Maraia RJ

[Genome Biol, 2013]

Integral nuclear pore proteins associate with subsets of snoRNA and tRNA genes transcribed by RNA polymerase III and promote 3 transcript processing in nematodes.

Aguirre-Chen C et al. (2014) Elife "Cell death machinery makes life more robust."

Hammell CM, Aguirre-Chen C

[Elife, 2014]

CED-3, a protein that is essential for programmed cell death, also has an unexpected role in the regulation of non-apoptotic genes during normal development.

Rocheleau CE (2012) Curr Biol "RNA interference: Systemic RNAi SIDes with endosomes."

Rocheleau CE

[Curr Biol, 2012]

Systemic RNAi, the intercellular spreading of RNAi silencing, requires SID-1 and SID-3 to import silencing signals in Caenorhabditis elegans. How are these signals exported? SID-5, an endosome-associated protein, is a candidate for the job.

Reinke V (2008) Curr Biol "Gene regulation: a tale of germline mRNA tails."

Reinke V

[Curr Biol, 2008]

Gene regulation often plays by different rules in the germline compared to the soma. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the spatial and temporal expression of germline genes is controlled post-transcriptionally via the 3'' UTR rather than transcriptionally via the promoter.

Skourti-Stathaki K et al. (2013) Mol Cell "Histone 3 s10 phosphorylation: "caught in the R loop!"."

Skourti-Stathaki K, Proudfoot NJ

[Mol Cell, 2013]

In this issue of Molecular Cell, Castellano-Pozo etal. (2013) describe a connection between R loop structures and histone 3 S10 phosphorylation (H3S10P), a mark of chromatin compaction. Their results constitute asignificant advance in our understanding of the role of R loops in genomic instability.

Okamura K et al. (2010) Dev Cell "A deathly DNase activity for dicer."

Okamura K, Lai EC

[Dev Cell, 2010]

Recently reporting in Science, Nakagawa et al. describe an unexpected role for Dicer in chromosome fragmentation during apoptosis in C. elegans. They find that cleavage of DCR-1 by the caspase CED-3 redirects its regulatory activity, by destroying its dsRNase activity while activating an intrinsic DNase activity.

Lamitina T et al. (2012) Virulence "To UPR... and beyond! A new role for a BiP/GRP78 protein in the control of antimicrobial peptide expression in C. elegans epidermis."

Chevet E, Lamitina T

[Virulence, 2012]

The fungal pathogen Drechmeria coniospora infects C. elegans and elicits an innate immune response mediated, in part, by the induction of antimicrobial peptides in the epidermis. The signaling pathways controlling this phenomenon remain to be fully characterized. In this issue of Virulence, Couillault and colleagues use both proteomics and genetics to discover an unexpected role for the unfolded protein response (UPR) target chaperone BiP/GRP78/hsp-3 in the control of fungal infection-induced antimicrobial peptide expression in C. elegans. Although the expression of hsp-3 is regulated by the UPR, Couillault and colleagues describe a novel signaling role for this BiP/GRP78 homolog.

Akin O et al. (2014) Cell "The shape of things to come."

Zipursky SL, Akin O

[Cell, 2014]

Surface receptors can link binding of ligands to changes in the actin-based cell cytoskeleton. Chia etal. and Chen etal. provide evidence for direct binding between the cytoplasmic tails ofreceptorsand the WAVE complex, a regulator of the actin nucleator Arp2/3 complex, which mighthelp to explain how environmental signals are translated into changes in morphology andmotility.

O'Hagan R et al. (2015) Nat Cell Biol "A motor relay on ciliary tracks."

Barr MM, O'Hagan R

[Nat Cell Biol, 2015]

A powerful combination of two-colour imaging in vivo, Fourier-filtered kymography and simulations provides a high-resolution view of kinesin-2 transport dynamics in cilia. This study reveals heterotrimeric kinesin-II as an 'obstacle-course runner' and homodimeric OSM-3 (KIF17) as a 'long-distance runner', and elucidates the 'baton handoff' between these two kinesin-2 motors on the microtubule track.