CELL BIOLOGY: Let's Move It

Cytoplasmic mRNA: move it, use it or lose it!

Once an mRNA is synthesized and processed, the immediate translation and later destruction of the transcript is not as inevitable as the central molecular biology dogma suggests. Interest in the field of post-transcriptional control continues to grow rapidly, as regulation of these multiple steps in gene expression is implicated in diverse aspects of biology such as metabolism, neurology, repro...

Effects of LETS glycoprotein on cell motility.

Addition of LETS glycoprotein to normal or transformed cells produces increased migration of the cells, as determined by formation of phagokinetic tracks on gold particle-coated coverslips. These tracks arise by a combination of phagocytosis of the gold particles and cellular migration. Increased motility is also evident on plastic in the absence of gold particles. The added LETS protein attach...

Move it or lose it: axis specification in Xenopus.

A long-standing question in developmental biology is how amphibians establish a dorsoventral axis. The prevailing view has been that cortical rotation is used to move a dorsalizing activity from the bottom of the egg towards the future dorsal side. We review recent evidence that kinesin-dependent movement of particles containing components of the Wnt intracellular pathway contributes to the for...

Clinical inertia: hard to move it forward.

Move It on Out with MATEs

Multidrug transporters form a large class of membrane proteins present in the cells of most organisms. These proteins bind to a variety of potentially cytotoxic compounds and remove them from the cell in an ATPor protondependent process (Zhelenova et al., 2000). Traditionally, multidrug transporters have been divided into four superfamilies: the ATP binding cassette (ABC) superfamily, the major...