Rafting vesicle

Fast rafting

he protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii heads out of its host cell when Ca 2 ϩ levels peak in its cytoplasm. Now, Arrizabalaga et al. (page 653) find that proper regulation of these Ca 2 ϩ levels, and thus of Toxoplasma exit, requires a Na ϩ /H ϩ exchanger (NHE), suggesting a link between proton and Ca 2 ϩ regulation. The increase in Ca 2 ϩ levels, which can be induced artificially with an iono...

Rafting the Ethical Rapids

Rafting across polarized cells

or raft proteins, direct delivery is not the travel route of choice, according to Roman Polishchuk, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz (NIH, Bethesda, MD), and colleagues. They find that, contrary to earlier evidence, glycosyl phosphatidyl-inositol (GPI)–anchored raft proteins make a detour to the basolateral membrane of polarized MDCK cells before crossing the cell to their final destination in the ...

Long-distance life rafting

Ordering and disordering electrons When a liquid is cooled rapidly, it can form a glass, a state stuck between liquid and solid. Two groups looked in detail into analogous dynamics in electronic systems. Sato et al. and Sasaki et al. studied layered organic materials with a triangular in-plane lattice. These materials can assume a state in which their charge distribution has a regular pattern—a...

Rafting with the IL-12 receptor.

In this issue of Blood, Kondadasula and colleagues provide important clues for understanding successful cancer immunotherapy by demonstrating an intriguing mechanism through which CD16 synergizes with IL-12 to induce interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production by NK cells.