You are here

Cell and Molecular Biology

A tale of two toxins: The acquisition of defensive toxins by animals through horizontal gene transfer

Several disease-causing bacteria produce toxins that damage host cells by triggering preprogrammed cell death. Two such bacterial toxins are called cytolethal distending toxin B and apoptosis-inducing protein of 56 kDa. We discovered that diverse insect species co-opted the two bacterial genes encoding each cytotoxin through a phenomenon called horizontal gene transfer (HGT). HGT occurs when a gene from one organism is inserted into the genome of another and then is stably inherited across generations.

Dynamic Regulation of cell adhesion and motility governs the formation of the embryonic axis in vertebrate embryos

How do vertebrate embryos develop to form the adult organism? Coordinated cell movements during gastrulation are key to laying down the early embryonic body plan. The cells migrate by two distinct mechanisms that I will describe. They can migrate on extracellular matrix or on their neighboring cells. In zebrafish embryos, endoderm cells migrate on the yolk extracellular matrix to form the organs of the gut.

Mechanistic insights into actin force generation during vesicle formation from cryo-electron tomography

Serwas D, Akamatsu M, Moayed A, Vegesna K, Vasan R, Hill JM, Schöneberg J, Davies KM, Rangamani P, Drubin DG.  2022.  Mechanistic insights into actin force generation during vesicle formation from cryo-electron tomography. Developmental Cell.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Cell and Molecular Biology