Melanocytes are pigment-producing cells that originate from the dorsal portions of the closing neural tube in vertebrate embryos (Fig. 70-1). 1 They derive from pluripotent neural crest cells that differentiate into numerous cell lineages, including neurons, glia, smooth muscle, craniofacial bone, cartilage, and melanocytes (reviewed in refs. 2 and 3). Progenitor melanoblasts migrate dorsolater...

ALBANY | New York state, in collaboration with several other states and Columbia University, is reviving an advisory committee on climate change that President Donald Trump’s administration disbanded. The move is aimed at helping local governments prepare for global warming. The federal advisory committee had been slated to provide guidance based on scientific findings of the latest National Cl...

Stephens, 2010). At the same time attention has also shifted to many other aspects of adipocyte development, including efforts to identify, isolate and manipulate relevant precursor stem cells. Recent studies have revealed new intracellular pathways, processes and secreted factors that can influence the decision of these cells to become adipocytes. Understanding the intricacies of adipogenesis ...

Cellular senescence is a stable proliferation arrest that is associated with extensive cellular remodelling and an altered secretory pathway. Through its numerous inducers that lead to altered gene expression, senescence is able to influence many contrasting functions and pathologies, namely tumour suppression, tumour promotion, wound healing and ageing. As senescence is able to control such im...

The myelin sheath is a plasma membrane extension that is laid down in regularly spaced segments along axons of the nervous system. This process involves extensive changes in oligodendrocyte cell shape and membrane architecture. In this Cell Science at a Glance article and accompanying poster, we provide a model of how myelin of the central nervous system is wrapped around axons to form a tightl...

Since its discovery in 1997 (Li and Sun, 1997; Li et al., 1997; Steck et al., 1997), the phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate [PtdIns(3,4,5)P3] phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) has been established as one of the most frequently mutated tumor suppressor genes in human cancer. PTEN is a phosphatase that catalyzes the conversion of the lipid second messenger PtdIns (3,4,5)P3 to phosphat...

Journal of Cell Science 123, 4000 © 2010. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd doi:10.1242/jcs.082667doi:10. There was an error published in J. Cell Sci. 123, 3420-3423. We misprinted the sentence in the acknowledgements that states the American Heart Association (AHA) as the funding body supporting F. Jon Kull. The correct sentence is given below: The authors’ research on kinesins is sup...

The transcription factor EB (TFEB) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of basic cellular processes, such as lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy. The subcellular localization and activity of TFEB are regulated by mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR)-mediated phosphorylation, which occurs at the lysosomal surface. Phosphorylated TFEB is retained in the cytoplasm, whereas dephosphorylated TFEB...

A number of specific and commonly recognized moral principles have been articulated for application in the realm of health care ethics. Some ethicists, notably Beauchamp and Childress (2004), have used such principles as a primary framework for ethical analysis and dialogue. In this approach, referred to as principlism, each principle represents a serious, though not absolute, moral duty that m...

Defence against virally infected and malignant cells depends on the action of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells (Barry and Bleackley, 2002; Russell and Ley, 2002). Although these use several mechanisms to eliminate target cells, the principal event is secretion of cytotoxic granules. These granules contain the pore-forming protein perforin together with a variety of granule-assoc...