Kenyon CJ (1995) Cell "A perfect vulva every time: gradients and signaling cascades in C. elegans."

Kenyon CJ

[Cell, 1995]

For many years developmental biologists have been trying to learn whether patterning within fields of cells is driven by graded morphogens or by sequential signaling cascades...

Musacchio A (2015) Elife "Closing the Mad2 cycle."

Musacchio A

[Elife, 2015]

Chromosome separation is regulated by a cycle that involves a protein undergoing an unusual topological conversion.

Hang JS et al. (2008) Curr Biol "Meiotic maturation: receptor trafficking is the key."

Hang JS, Singson A, Grant BD

[Curr Biol, 2008]

Meiotic maturation and ovulation rates in Caenorhabditis elegans are regulated by a sperm-released gradient of major sperm protein (MSP). Recent work has provided insights into the modulation of the MSP signal by the trafficking of its receptor in oocytes.

Matsumoto M et al. (2005) Cell Metab "All roads lead to FoxO."

Accili D, Matsumoto M

[Cell Metab, 2005]

Stress-activated kinases control metabolism by antagonizing the early steps of insulin signal transduction. Two papers now demonstrate that Jnk, the prototypical stress-activated kinase, controls life span in Drosophila and C. elegans by promoting phosphorylation of the forkhead protein FoxO (Oh et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2005). The findings provide yet another mechanism by which metabolic and stress responses are integrated via phosphorylation of FoxO proteins.

Mori I (2008) Neuron "A single sensory neuron directs both attractive and repulsive odor preferences."

Mori I

[Neuron, 2008]

Animal behaviors are subjected to innate preferences, which are usually encoded by dedicated sensory neurons. In this issue of Neuron, Tsunozaki and colleagues show that one olfactory neuron in Caenorhabditis elegans produces two opposing preferences to an odor by regulating cGMP and PKC signaling.

Kramer NJ et al. (2016) Elife "Regrowing axons with alternative splicing."

Kramer NJ, Gitler AD

[Elife, 2016]

The regeneration of axons relies on a previously unknown mechanism that involves the regulation of alternative splicing by CELF proteins.

Kumsta C et al. (2019) J Cell Biol "Getting under the skin: Cuticle damage elicits systemic autophagy response in C. elegans."

Hansen M, Kumsta C

[J Cell Biol, 2019]

In this issue, Zhang et al. (2019. <i>J. Cell. Biol.</i> https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201907196) describe a molecular mechanism by which cuticular damage in the nematode <i>C. elegans</i> leads to systemic induction of autophagy by signals propagated from sensory neurons via the TGF- signaling pathway.

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

Lai EC, Okamura K

[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.

Hawley RS et al. (2009) Nat Cell Biol "Homologue pairing: getting it right."

Gilliland WD, Hawley RS

[Nat Cell Biol, 2009]

In Caernorhabditis elegans, homologue pairing is mediated by specialized regions near one end of each chromosome in conjunction with zinc finger (ZnF)-bearing proteins. Families of repeated sequences that are enriched within these regions have now been identified. By recruiting their cognate ZnF-bearing proteins, these regions promote pairing and synapsis.

Brunner D (2002) Dev Cell "How to grab a microtubule on the move."

Brunner D

[Dev Cell, 2002]

In migrating cells, Rho family GTPases and their effectors play a central role in polarizing and in organizing the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons. A study by Fukata et al. in the June 28th issue of Cell now shows that the Rac1/Cdc42 effector IQGAP1 captures microtubules by binding to CLIP170.