It is now well established that ancient proteins endure, and remain informative, much longer than DNA. Accordingly, sequencing of ancient proteins is currently the only viable methodology for retrieving the genetic data required to resolve evolutionary relations between vertebrate species that disappeared millions of years ago. Ancient proteins can provide phylogenetic information at a timescale that

Tunnelling nanotubes, which are actin-based protrusions different from filopodia and cytokinetic bridges, connect cells in the zebrafish embryo, enabling the transport of proteins and organelles.

Evidence shows that RNA trafficking is a key communication mechanism across kingdoms and species, but how RNAs are secreted and trafficked and how they function within the recipient organisms remain unclear. Here, we discuss how understanding inter-organismal RNA communication can assist in disease management in both agriculture and medicine. Cross-species host–pathogen or mutualistic RNA communication

Valerie Tornini discusses two studies that identified functional roles for small proteins encoded by short open reading frames, and highlights the potential for this research field in fundamental and clinical research.

Correction to: Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-024-00784-2, published online 21 October 2024.

C. David Allis’s discovery of the first histone acetyltransferase from Tetrahymena exemplifies an approach that continues to evolve and now has a crucial role in drug development.

Senescent cells in the amputated head of the cnidarian Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus drive the reprogramming of somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells, which are required for full body regeneration.

Removal of different types of senescent cells can be either beneficial or detrimental to health, with potential consequences to senotherapies.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Duran (Gil lab) describes the development of novel machine learning algorithms that enable the detection of senescent cells in vitro and in diverse tissues based solely on nuclear morphologeny analysis.

James Kirkland discusses how work by Norman Sharpless and colleagues, published in 2004, paved the way for the development of senolytics, which are now in early phase clinical trials for the treatment of multiple disorders.

Raffaella Di Micco discusses the importance of a 2020 study in which CAR-T cells were engineered to eliminate senescent cells.

Ana O’Loghlen highlights a recent study that indicates that inhibiting the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-11 has anti-ageing effects, and how such findings could have implications for the treatment of ageing-associated diseases.

Enrichment of senescent cells from organs holds great promise for studying cell senescence and ageing, and for identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities.

Akiko Takahashi discusses the seminal 1997 paper by Serrano et al. who found that oncogene activation results in a similar phenotype to replicative senescence, establishing the connection between senescence and cancer.

De Caestecker and Macara find that the sorting of membrane proteins in the Golgi relies on a size filter that enables correct localization of proteins with a short cytosolic domain to the apical membrane.

Elias Barriga discusses a seminal 2006 paper from Zhao et al., which was the first study to integrate electrotaxis signals into the established molecular framework enabling directed cell migration.

mRNAs with alternative in-frame translation initiation sites can yield proteoforms with distinct localization and functions.

Correction to: Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-024-00770-8, published online 10 September 2024.

Correction to: Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-024-00763-7, published online 5 August 2024.

Correction to: Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-022-00511-9, published online 22 August 2022.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Jeroen van den Berg (van Oudenaarden lab) presents a new method based on pulse-labelling of nascent DNA to study the dynamics of DNA replication in single cells.

This study finds that microtubules act as a mechanostat during cell migration, becoming mechanically reinforced in response to compression to protect the nucleus and coordinate contractility.

Stresses induce de-crowding and fluidization of the cytoplasm, which promotes the formation of biomolecular condensates.

MYB-related transcription factors are found to function in chloroplast biogenesis alongside GLK in the distantly related species Marchantia polymorpha and Arabidopsis thaliana.

Abigail Buchwalter recounts what happened to the nuclei of cells lacking all lamin genes.

Paul Nurse discusses how a 1971 paper by Culotti and Hartwell inspired him to investigate the cell cycle in fission yeast, and how these genetics studies led to the discovery of cyclin-dependent kinases.

The studies that paved the way for the development of PROTACs (proteolysis-targeting chimeras) as therapeutic strategies, and the HPV vaccine.

Many proteins in the mouse ovary are extremely stable; they enhance proteostasis and limit protein aggregation, thereby supporting the maintenance of the long-lived oocytes.

An elegant study revealed the distinct roles of different H3K9 methylation states in heterochromatin formation and function.

In a recent study, Bong et al. identify a polarized distribution of contact sites between the endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membrane in migrating cells, whereby higher density of contacts in the back of the cells prevents the formation of additional migration fronts.

This Comment discusses erroneous reporting of mass spectrometry analyses of lipids in mammalian samples, and provides recommendations for how to avoid it. Publications that report mass spectrometry analyses of lipids often include lipid species that probably do not exist in the samples. Here we provide recommendations for scientists on submitting lipid data, and for reviewers, editors and readers on

Super-resolution microscopy (SRM) is gaining popularity in biosciences; however, claims about optical resolution are contested and often misleading. In this Viewpoint, experts share their views on resolution and common trade-offs, such as labelling and post-processing, aiming to clarify them for biologists and facilitate deeper understanding and best use of SRM. In this Viewpoint, experts discuss resolution

Correction to: Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-023-00648-1, published online 2 October 2023

Foundation models hold great promise for analyzing single-cell omics data, yet various challenges remain that require further advancements. In this Comment, we discuss the progress, limitations and best practices in applying foundation models to interrogate data and improve downstream tasks in single-cell omics. This Comment discusses the progress, limitations and best practices in applying foundation

Correction to: Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-024-00730-2 Published online 30 April 2024

In this Tools of the Trade article, Reiniš and Reicher (Kubicek Lab) describe the development of a multicolour protein-tagging strategy that allows live-cell monitoring of multiple proteins.

This study uncovered a link between PI5P, PI5P4Ks and the Hippo pathway, whereby PI5P reinforces the inhibition of YAP, the effector of the Hippo pathway.

Kawaguchi et al. identify a chromatin code based on repressive histone 3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) that serves as a segment-specific positional marker in connective tissue cells of axolotls, enabling correct patterning during limb regeneration.