Valencia-Gallardo et al. show that the Shigella invasion effector IpaA induces major conformational changes in the vinculin head domain leading to vinculin oligomerization and actin filament bundling. This non-canonical mode of vinculin activation is required for bacterial invasion and may also be pertinent for the formation of cell adhesion structures.

Gunn et al. show that the commercially available Ebola virus vaccine leads to sustained protection in a macaque model of partial protection when antibodies are directed against the soluble glycoprotein of Ebola, a target previously thought to have a minimal role in protection against disease.

Penfold et al. show that AMPK activation protects against prostate cancer progression in vivo. AMPK activation switches prostate cancer cells to a tumor-suppressive catabolic state, increasing PGC1α expression and mitochondrial biogenesis while inhibiting lipogenic potential. In parallel, AMPK inhibits a cell cycle gene network associated with prostate cancer progression.

Cossec et al. show that chemical inhibition of SUMOylation in mouse embryonic stem cells produces self-assembled embryo-like structures with characteristics resembling a head and a trunk. Suppression of SUMOylation, a general chromatin barrier to cell fate transitions, increases genome-wide DNA methylation, supporting the emergence of cell diversity.

Cox et al. show that AKT activation biases B cell development toward marginal zone (MZ) B cells with innate functions. CD148 is identified as a receptor indicative of AKT signaling level in B cells, expressed at higher levels in MZ than FO B cells in mice and humans.

Fang et al. report successful direct transdifferentiation of SSCs into iNSCs in vitro and show that inhibition of IκBα/β mRNA translation by m6A-mediated YTHDF1 LLPS is key to the activation of the IκB-NF-κB-CCND1 axis during transdifferentiation. This study further suggests that protein-RNA LLPS plays essential roles in cell fate transition.

A L97R substitution in the VP1 capsid protein of enterovirus A71, conferring heparan sulfate binding ability, was detected in an immunocompromised patient. Weng et al. demonstrate that variants with this mutation, despite increased susceptibility to host neutralizing antibodies, are more virulent in orally infected immunosuppressed mice.

Ho et al. provide evidence that glycolytic enzymes, including lactate dehydrogenase, form a plasma membrane-associated metabolon with intrinsic ATP/ADP and NAD+/NADH cycles. The subcellular location of this complex allows both ATP-consuming and ATP-producing enzymes to locally control the ATP-sensitive K+ channel in human and mouse pancreatic α and β cells.