Journal ArticleDev Biol · March 2025
The large absorptive surface area of the small intestine is imparted by finger-like projections called villi. Villi formation is instructed by stromal-derived clusters of cells which have been proposed to induce epithelial bending through actomyosin contra ...
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Journal ArticlePLoS Genet · March 2024
Tissues are subject to multiple mechanical inputs at the cellular level that influence their overall shape and function. In the small intestine, actomyosin contractility can be induced by many physiological and pathological inputs. However, we have little ...
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Chapter · 2023
The epidermis is a stratified squamous epithelium that forms the outermost layer of the skin. Its primary function is to act as a barrier, keeping pathogens and toxins out and moisture in. This physiological role has necessitated major differences in the o ...
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Journal ArticleDevelopment · December 1, 2022
There are fundamental differences in how neonatal and adult intestines absorb nutrients. In adults, macromolecules are broken down into simpler molecular components in the lumen of the small intestine, then absorbed. In contrast, neonates are thought to re ...
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Journal ArticleCell Stem Cell · January 6, 2022
The number of hair follicle stem cells decreases during aging and in hair-loss disorders, such as alopecia. In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Xie et al. (2021) discover that the hair shaft serves as a physical niche component for the preservation of hair fo ...
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Journal ArticleMol Biol Cell · November 1, 2021
Proper spindle orientation is required for asymmetric cell division and the establishment of complex tissue architecture. In the developing epidermis, spindle orientation requires a conserved cortical protein complex of LGN/NuMA/dynein-dynactin. However, h ...
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Journal ArticleNature reviews. Molecular cell biology · October 2021
In multicellular systems, oriented cell divisions are essential for morphogenesis and homeostasis as they determine the position of daughter cells within the tissue and also, in many cases, their fate. Early studies in invertebrates led to the identificati ...
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Journal ArticleMol Biol Cell · October 1, 2021
Keratin intermediate filaments form dynamic polymer networks that organize in specific ways dependent on the cell type, the stage of the cell cycle, and the state of the cell. In differentiated cells of the epidermis, they are organized by desmosomes, cell ...
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Journal ArticleCell Stem Cell · March 4, 2021
Basal stem cells fuel development, homeostasis, and regeneration of the epidermis. The proliferation and fate decisions of these cells are highly regulated by their microenvironment, including the basement membrane and underlying mesenchymal cells. Basal p ...
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Journal ArticleCurr Opin Cell Biol · February 2021
While microtubule dynamics and organization have been extensively studied invitro, both biochemically and in cultured cells, recent work has begun to extend this into tissues ex vivo and organisms in vivo. Advances in genetic tools and imaging technology h ...
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Journal ArticleDevelopment (Cambridge, England) · October 2020
Between embryonic days 10.5 and 14.5, active proliferation drives rapid elongation of the murine midgut epithelial tube. Within this pseudostratified epithelium, nuclei synthesize DNA near the basal surface and move apically to divide. After mitosis, the m ...
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Journal ArticleMol Biol Cell · May 15, 2020
Desmosomes are cell-cell adhesions necessary for the maintenance of tissue integrity in the skin and heart. While the core components of desmosomes have been identified, peripheral components that modulate canonical or noncanonical desmosome functions stil ...
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Journal ArticleCurr Biol · February 24, 2020
In this Primer, Moreci and Lechler follow the lifetime of an epidermal cell from its birth to its ultimate death, and detail how this journey is necessary for epidermal function. ...
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Journal ArticleDev Cell · October 7, 2019
The guts of neonatal mammals and stomachless fish have a limited capacity for luminal protein digestion, which allows oral acquisition of antibodies and antigens. However, how dietary protein is absorbed during critical developmental stages when the gut is ...
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Journal ArticleElife · October 2, 2019
Tissue homeostasis requires a balance between progenitor cell proliferation and loss. Mechanisms that maintain this robust balance are needed to avoid tissue loss or overgrowth. Here we demonstrate that regulation of spindle orientation/asymmetric cell div ...
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Journal ArticleDev Cell · July 16, 2018
During embryonic development, the midgut needs to undergo extensive elongation to form the small intestine. In this issue of Development Cell, Wang et. al. (2018) explore the cell dynamics of this tissue and find that regulated re-integration of cells into ...
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Journal ArticleMol Biol Cell · July 1, 2018
In most differentiated cells, microtubules reorganize into noncentrosomal arrays that are cell-type specific. In the columnar absorptive enterocytes of the intestine, microtubules form polarized apical-basal arrays that have been proposed to play multiple ...
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Journal ArticleDev Cell · April 23, 2018
The adult mammalian intestine is composed of two connected structures, the absorptive villi and the crypts, which house progenitor cells. Mouse crypts develop postnatally and are the architectural unit of the stem cell niche, yet the pathways that drive th ...
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Journal ArticleElife · September 4, 2017
The physiological functions of microtubules (MTs) are poorly understood in many differentiated cell types. We developed a genetic toolkit to study MT dynamics and function in diverse cells. Using TRE-EB1-GFP mice, we found that MT dynamics are strongly sup ...
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Journal ArticleDevelopment · September 1, 2017
Over the past several decades, numerous studies have greatly expanded our knowledge about how microtubule organization and dynamics are controlled in cultured cells in vitro However, our understanding of microtubule dynamics and functions in vivo, in diffe ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · June 20, 2016
Differentiation induces the formation of noncentrosomal microtubule arrays in diverse tissues. The formation of these arrays requires loss of microtubule-organizing activity (MTOC) at the centrosome, but the mechanisms regulating this transition remain lar ...
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Journal ArticleOncotarget · June 7, 2016
FRA1 (Fos-like antigen 1) is highly expressed in many epithelial cancers including squamous cell carcinoma of the skin (cSCC) and head and neck (HNSCC). However, the functional importance and the mechanisms mediating FRA1 function in these cancers are not ...
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Journal ArticleElife · January 14, 2016
Mitotic spindle orientation is used to generate cell fate diversity and drive proper tissue morphogenesis. A complex of NuMA and dynein/dynactin is required for robust spindle orientation in a number of cell types. Previous research proposed that cortical ...
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Journal ArticleMol Biol Cell · November 15, 2015
Advances in cell biology have often been driven by studies in diverse organisms and cell types. Although there are technical reasons for why different cell types are used, there are also important physiological reasons. For example, ultrastructural studies ...
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Journal ArticleMol Biol Cell · June 1, 2015
The Arp2/3 complex is the only known nucleator of branched F-actin filaments. Work in cultured cells has established a wide array of functions for this complex in controlling cell migration, shape, and adhesion. However, loss of Arp2/3 complex function in ...
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Journal ArticleCurr Top Dev Biol · 2015
Cell-cell adhesions are necessary for structural integrity and barrier formation of the epidermis. Here, we discuss insights from genetic and cell biological studies into the roles of individual cell-cell junctions and their composite proteins in regulatin ...
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Journal ArticleTissue Barriers · October 30, 2014
An exciting frontier in biology is understanding the functions of basic cell biological machinery in complex tissues. This approach is expected to uncover novel modes of regulation as well as reveal how core machinery is repurposed by different tissues to ...
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Journal ArticleDevelopment · March 2014
Mammary ducts are elongated during development by stratified epithelial structures, known as terminal end buds (TEBs). TEBs exhibit reduced apicobasal polarity and extensive proliferation. A major unanswered question concerns the mechanism by which the sim ...
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Journal ArticlePLoS One · 2014
Desmosomes are perturbed in a number of disease states - including genetic disorders, autoimmune and bacterial diseases. Here, we report unexpected changes in other cell-cell adhesion structures upon loss of desmosome function. We found that perturbation o ...
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Journal ArticleMol Biol Cell · December 2013
The epidermis is a multilayered epithelium that requires asymmetric divisions for stratification. A conserved cortical protein complex, including LGN, nuclear mitotic apparatus (NuMA), and dynein/dynactin, plays a key role in establishing proper spindle or ...
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Journal ArticleProc Natl Acad Sci U S A · October 1, 2013
The epidermis provides an essential seal from the external environment and retains fluids within the body. To form an effective barrier, cells in the epidermis must form tight junctions and terminally differentiate into cornified envelopes. Here, we demons ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · July 8, 2013
Many tissues in our body experience mechanical stresses caused by both internal and external forces. The skin, for example, must tolerate diverse mechanical insults. In this paper, we report a role for β-catenin in providing stability to epithelia under st ...
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Journal ArticlePLoS One · 2013
Proper development and tissue maintenance requires cell-cell adhesion structures, which serve diverse and crucial roles in tissue morphogenesis. Epithelial tissues have three main types of cell-cell junctions: tight junctions, which play a major role in ba ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · October 29, 2012
During differentiation, many cells reorganize their microtubule cytoskeleton into noncentrosomal arrays. Although these microtubules are likely organized to meet the physiological roles of their tissues, their functions in most cell types remain unexplored ...
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Journal ArticleSemin Cell Dev Biol · October 2012
Polarity is a fundamental property of epithelial cells. In this review, we discuss our current knowledge of the polarity of a stratified epithelium, the epidermis, focusing on similarities and differences with simple epithelial models. We highlight how the ...
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Journal ArticleMol Biol Cell · March 2012
Maintaining proper cell-cell adhesion in the intestine is essential for tissue homeostasis and barrier function. This adhesion is thought to be mediated by cell adhesion structures, including tight junctions, adherens junctions, and desmosomes, which conce ...
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Journal ArticleSubcell Biochem · 2012
The specification, maintenance, division and differentiation of stem cells are integral to the development and homeostasis of many tissues. These stem cells often live in specialized anatomical areas, called niches. While niches can be complex, most involv ...
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Journal ArticleInt Rev Cell Mol Biol · 2012
Generation of three-dimensional tissues with distinct cell types is required for the development of all organs. On its own, mitotic spindle orientation allows tissues to change in length or shape. In combination with intrinsic or extrinsic cues, this can a ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · August 22, 2011
Desmosomes are cell-cell adhesion structures that integrate cytoskeletal networks. In addition to binding intermediate filaments, the desmosomal protein desmoplakin (DP) regulates microtubule reorganization in the epidermis. In this paper, we identify a sp ...
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Journal ArticleCell Div · June 6, 2011
For proper tissue morphogenesis, cell divisions and cell fate decisions must be tightly and coordinately regulated. One elegant way to accomplish this is to couple them with asymmetric cell divisions. Progenitor cells in the developing epidermis undergo bo ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · November 29, 2010
Progenitor cells must balance self-amplification and production of differentiated progeny during development and homeostasis. In the epidermis, progenitors divide symmetrically to increase surface area and asymmetrically to promote stratification. In this ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · November 17, 2008
The formation of a single lumen is a necessary step in the formation of biological tubes. Different tissues have developed diverse ways to form their lumens. In this issue, Jaffe et al. (Jaffe, A.B., N. Kaji, J. Durgan, and A. Hall. 2008. J. Cell Biol. 183 ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · August 13, 2007
If form is function, Terry Lechler thinks scientists should know more about how cells acquire their form. That's one reason he studies the cytoskeleton. ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · January 15, 2007
Despite their importance in cell shape and polarity generation, the organization of microtubules in differentiated cells and tissues remains relatively unexplored in mammals. We generated transgenic mice in which the epidermis expresses a fluorescently lab ...
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Journal ArticleNature · September 8, 2005
The epidermis is a stratified squamous epithelium forming the barrier that excludes harmful microbes and retains body fluids. To perform these functions, proliferative basal cells in the innermost layer periodically detach from an underlying basement membr ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · October 25, 2004
For many years after the discovery of actin filaments and microtubules, it was widely assumed that their polymerization, organization, and functions were largely distinct. However, in recent years it has become increasingly apparent that coordinated intera ...
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Journal ArticleProc Natl Acad Sci U S A · January 13, 2004
Loss of E-cadherin has been associated with human cancers, and yet in the early mouse embryo and the lactating mammary gland, the E-cadherin null state results in tissue dysfunction and cell death. Here we targeted loss of E-cadherin in skin epithelium. Th ...
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Journal ArticleBMC Cell Biol · June 3, 2003
BACKGROUND: 2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM) has been widely used as a non-muscle myosin inhibitor to investigate the role of non-muscle myosinII in the process of actin retrograde flow and other actin cytoskeletal processes. Recent reports show that BDM doe ...
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Journal ArticleMol Cell Biol · November 2002
In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the WASP (Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein) homologue Las17p (also called Bee1p) is an important component of cortical actin patches. Las17p is part of a high-molecular-weight protein complex that regulates Arp2/3 complex-depen ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · October 15, 2001
The establishment of cell polarity in budding yeast involves assembly of actin filaments at specified cortical domains. Elucidation of the underlying mechanism requires an understanding of the machinery that controls actin polymerization and how this machi ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · January 24, 2000
The generation of cortical actin filaments is necessary for processes such as cell motility and cell polarization. Several recent studies have demonstrated that Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) family proteins and the actin-related protein (Arp) 2/3 ...
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Journal ArticleCurr Biol · May 6, 1999
The Arp2/3 complex is a highly conserved cytoskeletal component that has been implicated in the nucleation of actin filament assembly. Purified Arp2/3 complex has a low intrinsic actin nucleation activity, leading to the hypothesis that an unidentified cel ...
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Journal ArticleCarcinogenesis · May 1998
The Saccharomyces cerevisiae REV3 gene encodes the catalytic subunit of a non-essential DNA polymerase zeta, which is required for mutagenesis. The rev3 mutants significantly reduce both spontaneous and DNA damage-induced mutation rates. We have identified ...
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Journal ArticleJ Cell Biol · July 14, 1997
We have developed a biochemical approach for identifying the components of cortical actin assembly sites in polarized yeast cells, based on a permeabilized cell assay that we established for actin assembly in vitro. Previous analysis indicated that an acti ...
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Journal ArticleJ Med Chem · September 27, 1996
A number of (aryloxy)aryl semicarbazones and related compounds were synthesized and evaluated for anticonvulsant activities. After intraperitoneal injection to mice, the semicarbazones were examined in the maximal electroshock (MES), subcutaneous pentylene ...
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Journal ArticleHerz Kreislauf · September 26, 1996
The formation of atherosclerotic plaques as a consequence of lipid accumulation in arterial walls apperently is not only caused by a complete removal of endothelial cells of the intima but is also observable under intact endothel. The active storage proces ...
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