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[
Dev Cell,
2015]
In this issue of Developmental Cell, Matus et al. (2015) reveal that to invade past basement membrane, the C. elegans anchor cell must cease dividing before differentiating and expressing pro-invasion genes. This demonstration of invasion and proliferation as mutually incompatible cell states has implications for our understanding of cancer metastasis.
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PLoS Biol,
2022]
In this issue of PLOS Biology, Lattmann and colleagues report a new function for proteins of the DNA prereplication complex promoting the anchor cell to invade through the basement membrane and initiate vulval development in Caenorhabditis elegans.
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Curr Biol,
2014]
In a tractable model for cell invasion, the Caenorhabditis elegans anchor cell migrates through basement membranes towards a polarity cue provided by netrin. A new study reveals that the anchor cell polarity network can break symmetry and oscillate in the absence of netrin, suggesting the presence of interlinked positive and negative feedback loops, which are common in polarity pathways.
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Dev Cell,
2009]
Cell invasion through the basement membrane, a process important for both development and disease pathogenesis, depends on an interplay of adhesive, force transducing, proteolytic, and chemotactic machineries. The mechanisms whereby these different processes are integrated on the cellular level have remained elusive. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Sherwood and coworkers now identify integrins as integration platforms for a specialized invasive membrane domain in C. elegans.
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[
Nat Cell Biol,
2005]
It has long been known that the mammalian small GTPase Rab5 is involved in clathrin-mediated endocytosis. However, most Rab5-interacting proteins are localized to endosomes rather than to the plasma membrane. A newly discovered nucleotide-exchange factor for Rab5 in Caenorhabditis elegans now provides the missing link for activating Rab5 at the plasma membrane.
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[
Nat Cell Biol,
2003]
Chordate claudins are core components of tight junctions. By contrast, VAB-9, a nematode four-pass transmembrane protein related to claudins, localizes to adherens junctions and contributes to cell adhesion and actin - plasma membrane association.
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Curr Biol,
2011]
In the nematode C.elegans, immobility induced by the anesthetic halothane is coupled to its ability to modulate neuronal resting membrane potential, perhaps through effects on leak channels; a similar anesthetic, isoflurane, appears to work a different way.
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J Cell Biol,
2020]
The mechanisms that control how the two parental pronuclei fuse in the first mitosis of the embryo are poorly understood. In this issue, Rahman et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol.https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201909137) found that membrane fusion between pronuclear envelopes, followed by fenestration, promotes pronuclear fusion.
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[
Cell,
2015]
How do cells maintain the fluidity of cellular membrane in response to temperature fluctuation? In this issue of Cell, Ma et al. identify a regulatory circuit involving a heat-induced acyl-CoA dehydrogenase that controls the lipid saturation level and the fluidity of cellular membranes by transcriptionally regulating a lipid desaturase.
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[
Nat Cell Biol,
2001]
The endosomal system includes distinct endocytic compartments where decisions are made that determine the destinations of extracellular and plasma membrane materials that have been internalized. A new family of proteins has been found that governs the exit of material from one of these endocytic organelles, the endosomal recycling compartment (ERC).