Kim JS et al. (2008) Cell "Protons as intercellular messengers."

Zhen M, Kim JS

[Cell, 2008]

Muscle contractions are driven by neurotransmitters released at neuromuscular junctions. In this issue, Beg et al. (2008) report that protons, in the absence of neurotransmitters and neurons, can stimulate muscle contractions involved in the defecation cycle of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Their results identify protons as a new intercellular messenger and suggest that proton-mediated intercellular communication may be a widespread phenomenon.

Irazoqui JE (2014) Cell Host Microbe "DAF-tly depart stinky situations with elegans."

Irazoqui JE

[Cell Host Microbe, 2014]

During acute infection our behavior tends to change. Despite how common sickness behavior is, its molecular basis is not well understood. In a study published in Cell, Kim and colleagues (Meisel etal., 2014) implicate bacterial secondary metabolites as triggers of neural TGF-? signaling, which results in behavioral change during infection.

Vader G et al. (2014) Dev Cell "HORMA domains at the heart of meiotic chromosome dynamics."

Musacchio A, Vader G

[Dev Cell, 2014]

HORMA domain proteins are required for the careful orchestration of chromosomal organization during meiosis. Kim et al. (2014) and Silva et al. (2014) now provide structural and functional insights into the roles of C. elegans HORMA proteins, revealing parallels to the function of the HORMA protein MAD2 in mitotic checkpoint signaling.