Hot off the presses! Jan 01 Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol

The Jan 01 issue of the Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol is now up on Pubget (About Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol): if you're at a subscribing institution, just click the link in the latest link at the home page. (Note you'll only be able to get all the PDFs in the issue if your institution subscribes to Pubget.)

Latest Articles Include:

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  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):1 (2011)
  
• Endocytosis: Sorting the recycling | PDF (209 KB)
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):3 (2011)
  Some membrane proteins carry a specific sorting sequence that allows them to escape degradation when entering the endosome and to recycle back to the membrane. This was thought to be mediated by a uniform population of tubules, but Puthenveedu et al.
• Cell adhesion: Getting to the core | PDF (313 KB)
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):4 (2011)
  Many of us could be forgiven for thinking that current schematics of focal adhesions accurately reflect their molecular organization. However, these diagrams are based mainly on results from protein–protein interaction studies — the true ultrastructural architecture of focal adhesions is actually poorly defined.
• Stem cells: LKB1 maintains the balance | PDF (254 KB)
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):4 (2011)
  The Ser/Thr kinase LKB1 (also known as STK11) is essential for the maintenance of haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) homeostasis, according to three studies published in Nature.LKB1 regulates the metabolism of many adult cell types, so the authors of the three studies sought to determine whether it also affects metabolic control of HSCs.
• Cell signalling: RNA device rewires cellular networks | PDF (253 KB)
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):5 (2011)
  Synthetic devices that translate molecular inputs into gene expression changes are valuable for manipulating cellular behaviour, but until now these circuits have been able to respond only to a limited set of inputs, such as transcription factors. However, a new synthetic device based on RNA can respond sensitively to alterations in the levels of endogenous signalling molecules, and so can potentially link disease-associated pathways to cell fate decisions.
• Ubiquitylation: E3 ligases team up | PDF (218 KB)
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):6 (2011)
  The N-end rule and ubiquitin fusion degradation (UFD) pathways are ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic systems in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Ubiquitylation of protein substrates in the N-end rule pathway requires the E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Rad6 and the E3 ubiquitin ligase Ubr1.
• Mitosis: Good housekeeping | PDF (170 KB)
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):6 (2011)
  Compared with efforts to understand how the mitotic spindle is set up during metaphase, there has been relatively little emphasis on how it is removed at the end of cell division. By combining live-cell imaging and genetic analysis, Woodruff et al.
• Apoptosis | Cytoskeleton | Cell signalling | PDF (125 KB)
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):6 (2011)
  BID, BIM, and PUMA are essential for activation of the BAX- and BAK-dependent cell death program Ren, D.et al. Science 330, 1390–1393 (2010)The release of cytochrome c from mitochondria is crucial for apoptosis and is regulated by homo-oligomers of the pro-apoptotic proteins BAX and BCL-2 homologous antagonist or killer (BAK).
• Cell signalling | Post-translational modification | Ubiquitylation | PDF (131 KB)
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):7 (2011)
  PARP-1 attenuates Smad-mediated transcription Lönn, P.et al. Mol. Cell 40, 521–532 (2010)
• ABL at the leading edge | PDF (181 KB)
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):8 (2011)
  Knowing the subcellular localization of a protein is essential for understanding its function. When Stradal et al.
• Protein synthesis: An expressive couple | PDF (176 KB)
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):8 (2011)
  Organisms must precisely regulate protein synthesis to tailor their response to environmental fluctuations. This regulation is complex and involves tight control at many levels, including transcription, mRNA decay and translation initiation.
• Mechanisms of mitophagy
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):9 (2011)
  Autophagy not only recycles intracellular components to compensate for nutrient deprivation but also selectively eliminates organelles to regulate their number and maintain quality control. Mitophagy, the specific autophagic elimination of mitochondria, has been identified in yeast, mediated by autophagy-related 32 (Atg32), and in mammals during red blood cell differentiation, mediated by NIP3-like protein X (NIX; also known as BNIP3L). Moreover, mitophagy is regulated in many metazoan cell types by parkin and PTEN-induced putative kinase protein 1 (PINK1), and mutations in the genes encoding these proteins have been linked to forms of Parkinson's disease.
• Inventory control: cytochrome c oxidase assembly regulates mitochondrial translation
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):14 (2011)
  Mitochondria maintain genome and translation machinery to synthesize a small subset of subunits of the oxidative phosphorylation system. To build up functional enzymes, these organellar gene products must assemble with imported subunits that are encoded in the nucleus. New findings on the early steps of cytochrome c oxidase assembly reveal how the mitochondrial translation of its core component, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (Cox1), is directly coupled to the assembly of this respiratory complex.
• mTOR: from growth signal integration to cancer, diabetes and ageing
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):21 (2011)
  In all eukaryotes, the target of rapamycin (TOR) signalling pathway couples energy and nutrient abundance to the execution of cell growth and division, owing to the ability of TOR protein kinase to simultaneously sense energy, nutrients and stress and, in metazoans, growth factors. Mammalian TOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTORC2 exert their actions by regulating other important kinases, such as S6 kinase (S6K) and Akt. In the past few years, a significant advance in our understanding of the regulation and functions of mTOR has revealed the crucial involvement of this signalling pathway in the onset and progression of diabetes, cancer and ageing.
• Open chromatin in pluripotency and reprogramming
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):36 (2011)
  Pluripotent stem cells can be derived from embryos or induced from adult cells by reprogramming. They are unique among stem cells in that they can give rise to all cell types of the body. Recent findings indicate that a particularly 'open' chromatin state contributes to maintenance of pluripotency. Two principles are emerging: specific factors maintain a globally open chromatin state that is accessible for transcriptional activation; and other chromatin regulators contribute locally to the silencing of lineage-specific genes until differentiation is triggered. These same principles may apply during reacquisition of an open chromatin state upon reprogramming to pluripotency, and during de-differentiation in cancer.
• Common ground for protein translocation: access control for mitochondria and chloroplasts
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):48 (2011)
  Mitochondria and chloroplasts import the vast majority of their proteins across two membranes, and use translocases of the outer membrane as an entry gate. These translocases interact with the incoming precursor protein and guiding chaperone factors. Within the translocon, precursor-protein receptors dock to a central component that mediates both transfer through a cation-selective channel and initial sorting towards internal subcompartments. Despite these similarities, the mode of translocation differs between the two organelles: in chloroplasts, GTP-binding and hydrolysis by the receptors is required for transport, whereas in mitochondria passage of the preprotein is driven by its increasing affinity for the translocase subunits.
• A structural overview of the plasma membrane Na+,K+-ATPase and H+-ATPase ion pumps
  - Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12(1):60 (2011)
  Plasma membrane ATPases are primary active transporters of cations that maintain steep concentration gradients. The ion gradients and membrane potentials derived from them form the basis for a range of essential cellular processes, in particular Na+-dependent and proton-dependent secondary transport systems that are responsible for uptake and extrusion of metabolites and other ions. The ion gradients are also both directly and indirectly used to control pH homeostasis and to regulate cell volume. The plasma membrane H+-ATPase maintains a proton gradient in plants and fungi and the Na+,K+-ATPase maintains a Na+ and K+ gradient in animal cells. Structural information provides insight into the function of these two distinct but related P-type pumps.